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

Our film is a cyber-security action thriller called ‘Algorithm 404’. It is about a young adult who tries to take down a conspiracy organisation. He does this by hacking files the organisation doesn't want to be leaked and saving it onto a USB to deliver to someone who has the power to publicise what the organisation has been doing. The organisation is aware of what David (the hacker) tries to do and thus follows him, holds him at gunpoint and then knocks him to the ground. The story then goes back to 24 hours earlier of how David starts his journey in bringing the organisation down.

The most useful real films and TV series that inspired us were:

1. Alex Rider
2. The James Bond film series
3. Mr Robot
4. The Matrix
5. Hackers
6. Live Free or Die Hard

Form

Opening credits are a typical feature of an opening sequence. These include the title of the film, Distribution Company, production company, directors’ and actors’ names and names of others and extras involved in creating the film.  This is conventionally done after the setting and characters have all been given a slight introduction.

Typical features of an opening sequence are:

Institution and companies

Introducing the main characters

Sense of genre

Builds enigma

Our opening credits were overlaid onto a ‘fade to black’. We thought this was affective as it created suspense and broke up action to change the pace when necessary. The film ‘se7en’s opening sequence inspired this fade to black and we thought it worked well in our opening sequence 

Se7en inspired our titles.

Genre

The prezi below shows some of the conventions of Cyber-Security action thriller and how we have connoted the genre. 

Cyber-security is a recent genre as technologically has only recently become this advanced. This made it slightly more challenging as there wasn't much we could get inspiration from and so our ideas were original.

We did conform the the Conventions of Action films by having male protagonists however challenged the conventions of Cyber-Security as David wasn't a 'nerdy' character; instead he seemed fit, trained and able to compete physically as well as on his computer.

To connote the cyber-security genre, we used titles similar from “the matrix” and Mr Robot. Seen below are examples of Titles. They have a black background and a very high tech font to connote the genre of Cyber-security. We decided not to have the titles over the shots as it makes it harder to see them, but also as it breaks up the action and helps to change pace similarly to our inspiration ‘Se7en’. 

Algorithm 404 titles

Mr Robot Title

Mr Robot Title.

To further connote the action-thriller genre the pace of our opening sequence built up, there was a feeling of suspense, there was a 'chase' seen followed by a 'capture' scene involving guns.

Narrative Structure 

Style

“A film must connote it’s genre, through the way it looks and feels.”

Grading:

We wanted to grade our shots to make them all look even, the same colour and give a more ‘realistic feel’ 

The hardest scene to Grade- Under the bridge.

                                                          Some of the shots in our opening- We colour graded the shots under the bridge as the lighting would always change and make the shots look non-continuous. When we colour graded we evened them out and gave a more 'action' feel to the scene.               

Conclusion

To conclude, we followed most code and conventions from the cyber-security action thriller genre and of an opening sequence. Allowing us to produce a film opening looking professional and similar of that to real media. 

Evaluation Question 2 : How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We decided to make the film focus on representations of age and gender. Our main protagonist is a male, young adult.

We wanted David to come across as intelligent, challenging the negative stereotypes of young adults.

We showed this as he is a very intelligent person by knowing how to hack into a corrupt organisation for the “greater good”.

Saying this, we still connoted his age through his inexperience as at the end of the opening sequence he fell into a trap. 

                                                                    Capture Scene

In our opening sequence we didn't include any female actresses, this was only the case as the scene in the opening would come again later on the film after the '24 hours' has been replayed and would explain where the main female actresses were. For this reason we did not need to think about challenging or confining to stereotypes woman have. Had we included our main female protagonist in this opening sequence she would have challenged negative stereotypes of being the 'damsel in distress' and instead make quick, on spot decisions to help take down the organisation. This would appeal to our secondary TA of women as they are being represented positively and could be aspirational.

Evaluation Question 3 : What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our group decided our film was to be invested in by Film 4 and distributed by Studio Canal. Our reasoning for deciding to have two separate institutions are shown in the power-points below.

How will it be distributed?

Cinema:

Algorithm 404 will be shown at small independent cinemas as well as on large chains like Vue and Cineword. It will have a limited release in British Cinemas and dependant whether our film is successful it will have a staggered global release.                        

Examples of a cinema chain and an independent cinema. 

TV:

Our film will be available through online streaming on sites like Netflix and online rental services such as LoveFilm. Our primary TA (15-24 year olds) are most using these sites and so this is a great way to target them as Algorithm 404 is an independent film. 

The film will be distributed worldwide on DVDs and Blu-ray disks a year or so after release. This will be sold in large shops like Tesco to encourage a wider audience. 

Our group consisted of three males and so our opening was made by males for males. This was easy for us because our friends are males and so our research consisted of predominately males. We are also in the TA of our film and thus know how to get it right for this audience. 

Evaluation Question 4 : Who would be the audience for your media product?

At the start of the project our group researched into popular genres and corresponding age groups. We found that 15-24 year olds have the highest rate of cinema goers and so decided to centre our project on this age range.  Since we ourselves are within this age range, we conducted a survey amongst our friends to see their preferred genre so we could correlate that with our ideas.

                                  We found a graph on the BFI yearbook (as shown above). 

After having found that the majority of people preferred action and thrillers over romance and comedies we decided our target audience would be (Cyber-security) action thriller [primary], 15-24 year olds (mainly males) [secondary], and British Audiences [Tertiary].

Evaluation Question 5 : How did you attract/address your audience?

Our Target Audiences are:

1. Fans of the Cyber-security action thriller genre (primary)
2. 15-24 year old males (secondary)
3. British audiences (Tertiary) 

I decided to the use uses and gratifications theory to help me analyse the way I address this audience. Here’s a slide to show how did this.

I feel that the use of high tech props, settings and scenes such as laptops, phones, CCTV, the Seward Studio, a hacking scene would have definitely appealed to our TA of fans of the Cyber-security genre. 

The action in our film i.e. the capture and chase scenes and the use of guns targeted fans of Action and Thriller. The capture scene at the end followed by a “24 hours earlier” was meant to be a surprise to the audience after a long built-up chase scene. 

Audience reactions:

We received the following feedback to our test shoot:

1. “The music’s too repetitive”
2. “The music doesn't suit the scenes”
3. “The surveillance shots work really well”
4. “What’s going on?”

Taking our feedback into consideration we added more shots to our story boards, altering things to make our opening sequence more understandable, tense, interesting and exciting. Shots included: More CCTV, running shots from more perspectives, hacking shots were more continuous and included elements of hacking and the train shots were altered to change the pace. Not only this but our editing style changed and we decided to do more breaks on action where we cut back and forth between the hacker and the organisation to add pace, suspense and make it overall more enjoyable. Our titles were also more interesting, connoting the hacking genre and we included fade to black and white for titles to change the pace and make the sequence flow as we desired.

After these alterations, we asked the public if they would watch the rest of the film and after asking 20 people we came up with the following results:

92% of people asked said they would continue to watch the film, where as the other 8% said it didn't really appeal to them as they found it boring. The people who answered 'no' fell outside the primary and secondary Target Audiences. This could be a reason why the opening didn't appeal to them.

The following are quotes of people who viewed the final edit of the opening sequence:              

                                                                                                                                                                

1. "It's really dramatic"
2. "The running shots have really good continuity"
3. "I like the way the shots are smooth"
4. "The cut from the CCTV into real life works really well"
5. "The '24 hours earlier' creates suspense"
6. "I like the police report at the end"
7. "It works really well"
8. "The music put me on edge"
9. "It went so fast"
10. "What happens next?"

Conclusion

To conclude I feel that our opening appeals to our desired TA. It is clear from our feedback that it is liked, and could be potentially successful as a film.  Although the opening sequence is very male centric, there would have been appeal to woman in the rest of the film as well as men. The opening contained a short piece of action to start the film but throughout the film there will be plenty of variety.

Evaluation Question 6 : What have you learnt about technologies from the process for constructing this product?

Whilst making the film opening, I have learned things relating to both hardware and software.

Hardware I used in the project:

• Canon Legaria HF G30
• A libec TH65-DV Tripod
• A Canon DM-100 shotgun microphone
• Sennnheiser HD 201 Headphones

I have used the Canon Legaria HF G30 camera before during my GCSE Media Studies and so I was familiar with it. Saying this however, I managed to learn how to focus pull, but changing the focus of a shot. We used this in the second shot of the sequence where the camera tilts up onto the hackers keyboard and it focuses from the USB to the keys. 

Something I learnt from the editing was how to add visual fx onto titles to make them suit the genre. In live type our group made our titles look very cyber security themed. 

Evaluation Question 7 : Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at the preliminary task I feel that I now know a lot more.

The brief for our preliminary task was:

"Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/Reverse shot and the 180 degree rule."

The brief to our production task was: 

"To produce a 2-minute opening sequence for a fiction film. All video and audio material must be original, produced by candidate(s), with the exception of music and audio effects from a copyright-free source. It should be clear from your sequence who the audience is."

The differences I found between the two briefs: 

• Production task had a time-limit.
• Production task had a focus on audience.
• Production task was more open to creativity.
• Preliminary task was controlled and specific
• Preliminary task had a focus on Camera rules.

Planning:

A lot more planning went into our Production task than it did to our Preliminary task. For our real opening we needed to plan:

1. Location
2. Representing characters
3. Mise-en-scene
4. Camera angles and framing
5. Sound FX
6. Music

In comparison to our real Opening; the preliminary task was barely planned. We were limited to our group to act and the task was done in lesson time. We were given a location and time for the shoot. This contrasts our Production task as there was a lot more that needed to be done. 

Since it states the task should have a clear audience, we needed to take genre highly into consideration as this was a way we were going to target are TA. This made our group have to do research into different genres and Target audiences. 

We needed to decide on actors, locations, plan the shoot in detail, make a shootboard, storyboard and animatic. 

Production:

I feel that doing the preliminary task was fundamental when it came to our Film opening as we learnt a variety of techniques and rules which needed to be followed. 

Match on Action

Continuity in a scene where character movement is continuous and doesn't jump between shots.

Examples of Match on action in our Prelim (top) and our Film opening (bottom)
As you can see from the Gifs above, the action in continuous without any 'jumps' or 'glitches'. For example when the door opens it cuts to Flo's reaction, after this the progression of time is so that Ella is already half way into the room.

180° rule

This form of continuity is where the camera must not move more than 180 around your actor. This is don't so not to confuse the audience with setting.

An example where we used this rule in our film opening

Over the shoulder shots:

These shots help the audience understand the point of view of the actor

Master shots:

Running a shoot:
During the shoot I got a great experience of using the clapper board, camera and directing. Since I am someone who likes to take a 'leading' role in projects, being a directer by guiding actors, and maintaining everyone helped me to further knowledge myself on how to be more 'people friendly' but still achieving the main goal.

Post Production:
I already knew how to use Adobe Premier Pro from Gcse and from the Prelim task. As the project progressed, my knowledge was further developed and I become much more familiar with the software and being able to use more tools with ease such as add effects, and grade shots.

Evaluation process
For our Prelim we self evaluated and picked out issues. This wasn't the case for our film sequence as we would show people the progress during production and after production. We received a lot of feedback that helped us to improve our sequence and then asked for feedback from our TA where we reflected whether or not we achieved our goal.

Working as a team:
This skill is important throughout life and not just in the Media industry. During the prelim I learnt that communication amongst group members was vital to highlight any important issues. We carried this on when we started our groupwork; we created a Whatsapp Groupchat to share research, ideas, and to raise problems as well as having 2 hour meetings every week.

Conclusion
During these two projects, I developed my understanding of technology and film theories and am now able to apply that knowledge. If given more time we could have further been able to improve our opening. Saying this I enjoyed making the opening and found it was a great learning experience.

Construction Post 10: Looking back - reflections on our final outcome

I feel that our project as a whole was extremely well organised and successful. This was done as our group worked well as a team which is a key part of our success.

The final capture scene where I would have added a few more shots.

Our teachers and TA really liked our final opening sequence, most saying that they would definitely watch the rest of the film. “I really liked how it ended on a close up of the hacker followed by the audio in the blackout” 

Construction Post 9: My technical learning curve

I feel that I am extremely advanced when it comes to technology. This has come from my curiosity of computers and computer science since I was little. Saying this, during this project I have been able to familiarise myself further with Adobe Premier pro. A prime example of this is the CCTV shots our group made. I learnt how to distort an image using 'noise' and add a time frame of my choice This allowed us to create a convincing CCTV shot but also furthered my knowledge on the 'effects' side of Adobe PP. 

Another important technical lesson I have learnt is the importance of getting extra footage whilst shooting. This is done to make continuity a lot easier to achieve as you can match shots with the extra footage instead of being limited to just cropped frames. We learnt this mistake from our test shoot and took it into consideration greatly in our final and backup shoot. 

Construction Post 8: My personal contribution to the Edit Sessions

Personally, editing is one of my greatest strengths as I edit my friend's YouTube videos for his account and so I was already familiar with the software and aware of work input needed. This previous experience with Adobe premier pro allowed me to work quickly and efficiently to a high standard. 
I spent all my free study periods on our edit suite and edited about two hours on average each day. Our group also gave a couple of days each week after school to edit, organise the edit and look over work that had been done.

Construction Post 7: My Personal contribution to the Shoot Sessions

I contributed heavily to the shoot sessions as it is something I really enjoy doing. During the shoots, I mainly directed the actors, filmed and thought of 'on the spot' shots that may have looked nice when it came to editing. I oversaw the framing of the other group members' camera work to ensure it was accurate and well framed.

Construction Post 6: Reflections on Edit Week 2

Edit week 2 proved quite difficult for our group and more problems arose than in week 1.

First off, we couldn't create the full sequence on Adobe Premier Pro as we had not yet filmed the Seward studio back up shoot shots. This proved difficult as despite leaving gaps, our sequence made no sense and was extremely difficult for us to identify where these shots would go or where titles would go.

Another problem that arose was continuity errors. Because we filmed on two different weeks at two different times, many factors had changed. During the tube shots, the same people were never passing by at the same time but nothing could be done about this while shooting. Instead, we cleverly cut shots in ways which would not show this error or would show it to a minimal unnoticeable degree.

After filming the Seward studio shots our group editing was behind schedule despite putting in the agreed times. We quickly decided that it would be best if we had another group editing session at lunch and a short 15 minute meeting at break to organise who would do what, when they were editing alone to best utilise our time. This method  proved effective as we managed to get back on track and meet the deadline.

Colour grading wasn't really an issue. Lighting in the bedroom shots was the same throughout and it was brightly lit and so minimal colour grading was needed. During the running shots however it was slightly more difficult; the sunlight would alter slightly from clouds passing and so this changed the saturation of shots to give a slightly altered look. This proved to be the most challenging colour grading as each shot had different amounts of saturation and colour alteration needed to look realistic and fit in with each other.

Our TA focus group liked our sequence and said it had improved since the previous viewings, they mentioned how to ending was still a bit hard to follow and so we then extended some shots and changed the continuity slightly. We were then told that it was a lot “smoother” and “understandable”. Our teachers picked up on more technical aspects such as having the boom microphone in the typing shot, which “although unnoticeable” is “unprofessional” and breaks the “viewers emergence” in the sequence. 

Construction Post 5: The Back-Up Shoot

A backup shoot wasn't entirely necessary but I thought it would be best to redo some shots to make sure they were perfect and have extra footage to give options to alter our continuity sequences.  The video below is of setting up the Seward studio which we used as a HQ on the backup shoot. 

Some shots that were taken on the backup shoot are as follows: 

We utilised the backup shoot and managed to make better continuity tasks. The seward studio shots were a bit grainy and so we added higher key lighting. This made shots less grainy and gave it a better quality feel. The decision to change these shots came from our teachers and peer feedback as they said shots lacked a ‘professional feel’ despite being well framed.

Construction Post 4: Reflections on Edit Week 1

To keep organised and on top of things we stuck to our editing schedule. This schedule was made to suit our free periods and free time as well as having group editing sessions. Our group put in a total of 15 hours between us which helped us to keep on track for our project.

What we have done so far:

1. Looked over the clips
2. Renamed the clips
3. Chosen the best takes
4. Placed them on the timeline
5. Roughly cut down the shots
6. Roughly made a continuity sequence
7. Cut the shots down precisely
8. Made accurate continuity sequences

Our editing timeline

Our un-named shots

We decided as a group that our music needs to be changed and so we are looking at new tracks that may fit. We have several and once we lay them down on the timeline we will decide which best fits the sequence. Then edit the shots according to the music. 

Our TA focus group  mentioned how it was quite hard to follow the running shots as although its well edited, it is quite quick and there’s no hint that it will happen. In our backup shoot we are going to add in a few more shots that will come on earlier in the sequence. 

Construction Post 3: Reflections on our Main Shoot Session

Our main shoot was a lot smoother than the test shoot as we were more prepared and experienced. We had changed the shots that didn’t work in our test shoot by making alterations to our storyboard. We created a shootboard that would help us on the shoot as well as altering and using our original shootboard. We had already had practise of the shot types we were going to use and thus made the shoot quicker as setting up the camera took less time as we already knew what shots we wanted to achieve.  Below is a short clip on the main shoot.

Our whole test shoot opening changed, shots were added or removed and we were able to achieve a different feel of the film and connote the story better. Some examples of changes made from the test to main shoot are shown below.

Main shoot

Test shoot

The running shots were changed to be quicker, and have more of a storyline to them without being random. As you can see we added a handheld camera shot to make the audience feel like someone is chasing David, not only this but we changed the ending as it didn't seem that realistic.

Main shoot

Test Shoot

We changed the hacking shots to create suspense and give a feel of who David is. Our CUs, we smoother and our framing was better. We also changed location to my bedroom which had better (more easily altered) lighting. 

Our TA focus group weren't keen on the grainy HQ shots as they said it broke up the overall ‘professional feel’ of the sequence, to change this we are going to re-do them in the backup shoot. Our teachers told us that a way to get rid of the grain in shots was to add more lighting which we will do. 

Construction Post 2: Our Post-Production Kit

Our post production kit was set up by our media department. Our group were allocated an editing suite and given a Macbook to create Titles. 

Our Post-Production Kit List

1. Macbook Computer
2. Dual Monitor Edit Suite
3. Blue Yeti Microphone
4. LiveType software for creating titles
5. Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5 for editing our sequence

Adobe premier pro was the predominant software that we used to edit our opening sequence. 

We used live-type on our Macbook to create titles which connoted the action thriller cyber security crime genre.  

Construction Post 1: Our Production Kit

Our media department provided us with the following kit:

1. A Canon Legria HFG30 
2. A Libec TH65-DV Tripod
3. A Canon DM-100 Shotgun Microphone
4. Sennheiser HD 201 Headphones
5. A standard clapperboard

On the left our camera is set up on shoot and on the right is an image of our kit. 

To release the kit we had to sign for it in our media department and allocate responsibilities (which I took) for the transportation of kit.