Evaluation

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

Looking back on my preliminary task I have learnt so much, i've learnt how to be independant in my production, how to organise the people I was working with, how to structure when and where I was filming. I was really enthusiastic about the task at first and rearing to go, keeping up that enthusiasm and determination to finish is hard work especially when all the exciting bits are done. The last stretch was especially difficult, but now that it's all done i'm really proud of what i've achieved and how far i've come from when I started. I haven't just learnt a lot about making my own production and putting together my own footage etc. but also about the media industry itself, because our work has to be targeted at a certain audience we can't just go off the rails and make any old thing, we have to rein ourselves in and through that I developed a lot of creative discipline. I know so much more about filming, angles, sound, lighting and the effect I want on the audience than I did when I set out to do my preliminary task I really had no idea then. It's really been a progression from little kid in a sweet shop to a mature student who understands the task ahead of them. I'm really proud of my achievement throughout this year.

Evaluation

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

During this project I learnt how to use many different kinds of software including after effects and premier pro which i'd never used before. I used after effects to do my ident and I used Premier Pro for all of my editing and putting together of footage and sound. Camera wise there is so much you have to learn to create a good piece of footage. For example you don't realise how many things you have to take into consideration when filming at first! Like lighting, sound, angles etc and you never realise these mistakes until you upload the footage up on the computer for editing and then you have to go back and try and get hair, costumes and time of day the same as before, for continuity. There's alot of things to think about and when you're doing this work alone, it's up to you to think and remember them all. I learnt that although there are lot of effects you can add to your footage on Premier Pro it always looks and sounds better if you get it right while you are filming. When we filmed the bit where Stella is holding up the bracelet and looking out of the window, my mum turned the camera on it's side while holding it to get my whole upper body in, but still being close enough to see my facial expressions, however when it came down to editing when we flipped the footage 90'o round it didn't fit the rest of the footage as it had two empty black strips either side, we couldn't go back and re-film it however so I just layed the credits over the black space and it ended up looking pretty good in the end. These are little things you have to think about whilst filming that can lead to much greater complications later on, luckily I was able to work round mine and made something good out of it! There are some lines in my opening, however that are slightly muffled and even though I have turned up the sound on Premier Pro, it only goes up so high! And unfortuntely some of the lines cannot be heard, in these cases I did paste music over the top, so the lines are cut out, this added effect in the end anyway so was not too much of a problem, however if I was shooting a whole film, lines would be important and simply pasting music over them wouldn't be a solution. I leant how to record a voice over and then cut it up and paste it where I wanted in sync with a certain piece of footage all thanks to Premier Pro! Blogger.com has also allowed me to upload all my posts for my media work and Youtube allowed me to download my copyright free music, which saved the day! Overall technologie is hugely important in the film industry and has been the main component in the making of the opening of my film.

Evaluation

5. How did you attract/address your target audience?

We only had two minutes for our opening clip, so attracting our target audience and making them want to watch the rest of the film in that time was tricky. I wanted to attract my audience by making them curious into the story, into what has led this character to leave her home. I chose to address my target audience by connecting to them on an emotional level, one of the comments in my feedback was that good rapport was built with character and auidence feels empathy towards her, which was how I wanted to grip my audience. My opening scene isn't scary or thrilling or very dramatic, but it is emotional and I knew that that was how I had to attract my audience. I had to make them connect with the main character and make them want to know what has or is going to happen to her.. I think I managed that, with a lot of thought and time put into making an emtotional and steady opening scene. I used the music and particulary the use of narration to do this. The shots that I chose also help this. The first shot is done close up to the main characters face and shows a lot of emotion and expression in her face, it is also a slow shot, with the credits fading in and out and the music developing, it gives the audience a chance to built rapport and empathy with the character, it's intriguing. Then I added the narration when the footage picks up a bit and the music slows right down which adds depth and brings the character to life and allows the audience an insight into her life and feelings. This allows my target audience, teenage girls preferably, to relate and empathise with the character in some way.

Evaluation..

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

I think because of the content of it being about a 15yr old having sex and getting pregnant and some of the abuse she recieves in the convent I would rate the film a Pg or a 12.

I think the target audience however is probably for teenage girls, because of the main character and the film content. It would probably interest a similar audience to that of BBC film's as they are the same english, nitty gritty, period dramas that the BBC produces and that auidence can range from all ages from teenage-hood to more elderly viewers. It would probably interest viewers who enjoy films or series with a historical content, perhaps viewers interested in feminism around this time period. The audience feedback that I got was from teenagers, both male and female from 16-18 and the general feedback was positive and interested in the subject matter. In the way of social class I think it would be targeted at both working and middle class viewers. I don't this particular film would be a main stream, blockbuster film but a lower budget film that would maybe do best on DVD sales.

Evaluation

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

I think that BBC films would distribute my film, because they do a lot of period dramas based on novels, or interpretationg a historic event or representating a period in time such as; Pride and Prejudice, Miss Potter, Becoming Jane, Wuthering Heights, The other boleyn girl, Revolutionary road, The Duchess, Jane Eyre. All of which i've watched and inspired and helped me with the making of this film. The head of BBC films ia Christine Langan who is responsible for the development and production slate, strategy and business operations. It has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years. They produce around eight films a year working in partnership with major international and UK distributors. I think because BBC films aims to creat accurate adaptions of historical novels or events, rather than thrillers or big money making films, that my film would be best distributed by BBC films.

Evaluation

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

My film is set in the 1950's at a time where women were still restricted and not seen as a man's equal, however women had more rights than ever before and after the war were challenging their role as housewife and stay at home mum despite the government trying to re-establish domesticity as womens primary role. However at that time, sex and pregnancy outside marriage was heavily frowned upon and women were pressured into giving up illegitimate children or in some cases forced too. The government put a new emphasis on the nuclear family after the war in hope to regain the same social standing as before the war. My film challenges that immensely as it is about a 15yr old girl who falls pregnant outside of wedlock, keeps the baby and brings it up at home unmarried. Even in today's society underage pregnancy's are somewhat frowned upon, although a lot more common that in the 1950's. Also Stella is brought up in a strong catholic family, who would have strongly disapproved of sex outside of marriage and of course of Stella running away from the Nun convent that she is put in, to be punished for her sins and have her baby taken away. Many people come to Stella's rescue in the end including her friend Leo, her auntie Nora and her father. There are many different characters in the book, some who frown and look down upon Stella and allow her to be punished and have her baby taken away from her, as what happened to many women and girls who had babies out of wedlock in them days and those who challenge society and that particular religion and support Stella in her struggle to keep her baby. 

Although things were changing, women still had few rights in them days and this is shown in the film, by the fact that Stella doesn't get a choice in whether she is allowed to keep her own baby or not it is not until her father steps in and puts his foot down, does anyone listen to what she wants. The 1950s was a sexist time and this is shown clearly in my film. Although my film opening doesn't give much away about the story it does however show her father as a dominant character in the beginning. He drives Stella to her Aunties house and he decides when they leave in a dominant way while the mother is left to make tea, one of her only lines in the film opening showing the domesticity of women in that time.

Evaluation

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

I chose to do a period drama film, based on a book i'd already read. Period dramas tend to start off quite slow, introducing each character one by one and really setting the time and scene of the drama. I've watched a lot of period dramas in my time as they're my personal favourite type of films. I prefer slow, moving films to fast paced horrors or thrillers etc. I chose this book, because I know it very well, I can relate to the target audience and I felt I could interpret it and give it my own slant, which in a sense is what a lot of directors do when they want to make a film based on a novel, however I really wanted to stay as true to the novel as I could. As I often find after reading a book and then watching a film version of it, the directors change and dramatise the novel somewhat and although this makes for a more gripping film, it wasn't really what I wanted to do for my film opening. I did struggle, however to pull together a decent film opening that was true to the novel, but would be interesting enough to grip the audience when they first saw it. I had to intertwine the prologue, a bit of the ending and the start of the novel together, some bits as the narration, some as the speech and some as the scene and acting. I think this challenged me the most, because it was unlike anything I had ever had to do before, and it really required independant thought and a chance to think outside the box and we had no set guidelines for the topic or the way in which we presented our film. Sure there were rules, deadlines and guideline to HOW we do what we do, but when working individually to create something to be viewed and judged by others took a lot of thought and time. I chose to use narration, because the book first of all is somewhat a diary in the way it follows her her life through the course of two or so years and includes many of her thoughts. It is a journey essentially and I felt I couldn't show that with speech and acting alone. Also because I was using the prologue as the starting point for my opening I based the narration on the main things she says in the prologue looking back. In the end this added real effect to the opening and really made people relate to the character and made them want to know what had happened to her previously. Not many period dramas have narration in them, but one I can think of in particular was 'Lark rise to candleford' the tv series which used the main character 'Laura's' diary to describe the events of each programme. The narration is infrequent and adds emotion and thought to each programme rather than to tell the story, which is what my narration does. I used it to make the audience linger and think.

Audience Feedback..

We showed our rough cut to the class and I also showed it to a few people at home. most of the feedback estimated a level 3 for my work with the occasional level 4. I was pretty pleased with that overall. Some of the feedback varied from.. 'made me want to know what the rest of the film was about... good use of narration... professional and well edited... establish too much of the film in two minutes... music worked well... too much background noise in cafe scene... felt empathy towards character... varied shots... too dark in the cafe scene... scene in cafe doesn't fit... good range of characters age... good transitions... not too much is given away... emotive narration. Overall I was pleased with the feedback, but because of the negative feedback about the cafe scene and what I felt was the weaker acting during the film I decided to cut it out, plus when I had added my end credits it would have overun the two minutes and I wanted more time to work with, so it was cut out and I pushed it all together. I felt it ran a lot smoother without. I exported two versions, one with the cafe scene in and one without and took them home to show people we all agreed that it looked better without the cafe scene. After the feedback I felt much more confident and positive towards my finished piece.

Editing...

So Editing has been a long and slow process. I've changed my film more times than I can remember. I done the ident pretty early on, while I still rememebered how to do it! I kept the production name of Skyrise productions, just because I liked the sound of it. It sounded big and powerful. I really enjoyed editing and putting together all the clips i'd filmed. However music has been an issue, at first I had all the sort of music in mind that I wanted to use, all from the time period the film was set in 1950's.. artists like Elvis, Buddy Holly that were all mentioned in the book I really wanted to have in the clip, however my teacher told me I couldn't use artists due to copyrights, so I was pretty stuck about that. It took me a while, but I got over it and started looking elsewhere for some copyright music. It wasn't long before I found some great, moving tracks on youtube that were copyright free!!! I was so chuffed and began at once putting them together with my film clips. I spent many many lessons doing the tedious task of slowly cutting and overlaying the music within milliseconds of life to the exact place that I wanted it for maximum effect. I know how important music is in films and the music I had found I knew could really compliment my work and add the emotion I wanted to film. At the end of the day my film opening is the beginning of a story.. an emotional story of a young girl in a very tough situation and I wanted the film to be taken completely seriously and do the book credit if anything! So I rightly spent a lot of time and energy into the music and getting it exactly right, I was particularly pleased with the ending where Evie was sitting on my lap, I mananged to get a really good peak in the music to match beautifully with it and I loved the effect it gave!

Next up and last of all, in a bit of a rush I added on the credits. My friend showed me how as I'd forgotten from when James showed us and once I got the hang of it I was away. I took a long time choosing the font and colour that would sit well on my footage. The start is slow and not very dramatic, so I wanted a soft, elegant font that would easily fade in and then out and would go well with the music. Then at the end I wanted the words; 'Based on the novel..... Fallen Star.... By Joan O'neil.... to show on a blue screen just when the music was reaching it's peak. I knew exactly how I wanted it to look in my head and after a painstaking couple of hours (my computer kept shutting down suddenly, before I could save!!) I finally created that image! We had shown a rough cut to the class previously and mine really was a rough cut! A lot of these changes above were made afterwards and I didn't get to see them on the big screen until we had the big viewing at the end, but I was really happy with how it looked and worked!

Day 1 filming: All filming at J.P's went well. Actors and everyone else needed arrived and costumes went fine. We took a while to warm up, but got a lot of good shots and were finally happy with the last takes that we did, they certainly had more emotion in them shall we say! We've now just got to film the two other scenes in two different locations, the next one should be the hardest as we're involving a toddler! It will require me to know exactly what i'm doing on the day, because screaming toddlers do not make for good actors!

Day 2 filming: Today we done the shot at my cousins house, everyone arrived in costume and ready, so we could get started straight away. My cousin's husband had left his bicycle outside the house, which added authenticity I thought, shame about the modern day Vauxhall car we had to use never mind.. Little Evie was good put up with the being carried around and filming for the most part, but we had to hurry up towards the end as she was getting a bit angsty. It was a freezing day and I wasn't wearing much for this shot, so everyone was in rush to get it finished. My cousin took the role of camera women and with a bit of instruction from me got the hang of it quite quick and did some really good smooth shots, I was very pleased. We got a lovely bit at the end inside of the car with Evie on my lap. I would have liked a more smooth shot as we only done one take, but Evie was having none of it, but with music over the top hopefully it will come out with an emotional end to the overall clip.

Day 3 filming: This evening me and mum got to work on filming the close up of 'Stella' taking out the bracelet from charles and holding it in the air and remembering before putting it back again and returning to her packing. I wasn't really sure how I wanted this shot to be filmed at the time, so I had to kind of improvise. My mum was a great sport though, taking on the role of camera woman, together we came up with some good ideas and in the end decided to shoot the scene through the window, so off mum went outside in the dark, all the way round the back of the house and stood out in the cold, doing take after take, till we finally got some good shots. I didn't much like acting for this scene, as the camera was pretty zoomed in on my face and I knew it was going to be blown up the size of a house soon, but hey! you have to be professional, so I tried to see it from a directors point of view and act exactly how I imagined Stella would have when I read the book. I directed Mum a lot, but she had the same image I did and in the end we got what we wanted and could call it a day!

Day 4 filming: This last shot was slightly more hardwork than the others. I left this one a lot later than the others, as once i'd edited most of the previous work the excitment of shooting had kind of faded, but in the I got on with it, and asked my parents to get back in to costume and character and after a very longgggggggg time, they finally got their lines right, stopped laughing and I managed to get a half decent perfomance out of them. Phew. That was the last of the filming. My little sister had to take over the filming for this one as their was no one else to do it, but she did a good job! But it would take a lot of editing to get this clip to fit into the rest of the film! Best get cracking!

Research on target audience...

I found this really helpful site on target audience and it helps you to decide what your target audience is and how to make a profile for them; http://www.canadianfilmmaker.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=14

My genre is period drama set in the 1950's, aimed mainly at teenage girls between the age of 12 to 17. The book is about a 15 yr old girl, but is tastefully written and so will amuse and educate younger girls as well. I think, because of the time period and the subject, boys aren't the main target audience here. I did a bit of asking around, and in class asked a few of my peers what they thought of the idea, they all seemed intrigued and most of the girls thought the idea a good one. My sister.. who has also read the book, gave me a few ideas of what she thought the characters were like and how she envisioned them when she read the book, which was most helpful as I did want another opinion, from someone who had read the book themselves.

Update!

I have started work on my opening credits, and as the production company is going to be called 'skyrise'. I have decided to have a sky background, a skyrise building coming up through the bottom and a cloud going across the scene with the title 'SkyRise Productions'. But there is still a lot of work to do on that before it is finished. 

I have decided to use a few fifties songs, that are mentioned in the book from artists such as Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley etc. Mr Cole suggested that I use one of these songs playing in the background of the cafe scene which I think will really add authenticity and then I just need to find a piece of music to play during the rest of the time.

I am filming my scene in J.P's the cafe tomorrow at half 3 and I have the two actors I need for that, but costumes are still dubious. Although the script is finished, certain directions and filming shots, need to be decided on before we get there. Then on Sunday, we are going to my cousins house to do the other scene, I have my little sister doing still photos for my blog and my older sister in charge of filming. Me, my dad, my mum and my cousins toddler are all acting, which need costumes and hair styles sorted out. All that will need to be done tonight. Hopefully, then, I will have all my raw filming done over the weekend and can start editing in the next two weeks. I will also need to tape a voiceover for the narration scene this weekend. Any other establishing shots and the narration talkover I can use my own digital camera for, when and where I need it.  

Things I need to think about;

- Soundtrack
- Set Costumes
- Hairstyles for ALL actors
- Opening Credits
- Establishing Shots
- Scripts Sent Out
- Settings all booked

More Research.......

1950s cars:

1960's Cars:

Character list... In progress

Character list in order of appearance:

STELLA AS BEATRICE NORMAN

IRENE AS HARREIT NORMAN

CHARLES THORNTON AS GYLES WHITING

MAM AS ZOE NORMAN

DAD AS PAUL NORMAN

HOLLY AS EVIE HORSFALL

MAUEVE AS GRACE NORMAN

SHOT 1 INCLUDES;

STELLA, MAM AND DAD IN BEDROOM

SHOT 2 INCLUDES;

IRENE

STELLA

CHARLES

 

SHOT 3 INCLUDES;

STELLA

HOLLY

MAM

DAD

MAUEVE

Settings:

Café – JPS

Bedroom -

House -

Costume Ideas.

50's-60's HAIRSTYLES AND OUTFITS:

My finished script

SCREENPLAY FORMAT

INT. STELLA’S BEDROOM. – DAY

STELLA slowly walks around her room, consciously taking in the structure and items in the room. She opens the top drawer of a chest of drawers near the window, opens a little box and pulls out a chain bracelet and fiddles with it.

INT. IRENE’S CAFÉ. – DAY

STELLA is clearing up plates, dressed in a black apron with her hair tied back. CHARLES is sitting at a table, drinking with a group of teenage boys. Boys get up to leave, but CHARLES    lingers behind and approaches STELLA as she’s clearing up the glasses.

CHARLES

I’m CHARLES THORNTON.

I’m having a party

 on Saturday night. Would you

like to come? You can bring

a friend if you like.

STELLA smiles nervously.

STELLA

Thanks, maybe I

will.

CHARLES

That’s great, see you

about eight o’clock then.

CHARLES turns around and joins his friends and leaves café. STELLA stares after him.  IRENE comes over to STELLA with plates in her hand and leans over STELLA’s shoulder.

STELLA

He’s invited me to

His party

IRENE

You shouldn’t have encouraged him.

INT. STELLA’S BEDROOM. – DAY

STELLA smiles while still fiddling with the bracelet.

MAM is sitting on bed folding clothes, while STELLA turns around and unzips a suitcase on the bed slowly.

DAD walks in.

DAD

Are you ready?

MAM

Yes, I’ll make a cup of tea

Before you hit the road

DAD

I didn’t expect things

To be perfect but I didn’t

Think it would come to this.

I thought they’d forget,

Leave us in peace.

EXT. OUTSIDE HOUSE IN THE DRIVE. – DAY

MAM AND CIARAN are standing by the gate.

STELLA is walking out the door with Holly sitting on her hip with DAD behind her.

MAM

We’ll pay you a visit soon

DAD

So here we are setting

off on another journey

STELLA KISSES HER MAM AND CIARAN GOODBYE AND PUTS HOLLY IN HER CARSEAT AND GETS IN THE BACK OF THE CAR. DAD GETS IN THE FRONT AND CAR PULLS AWAY.

O/S TALKING STELLA

LEAVING KNOCKNACREE

WAS THE WORST THING

THAT I EVER HAD TO

DO. THOUGH I WAS SOMEWHER

ELSE I NEVER REALLY FELT

HOME. IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE NOW

THAT MEETING CHRLES COULD

HAVE LED TO SUCH UNFORESEEN

EVENTS AND CAUSE SO MUCH

UPROAR AND CATASTROPHE.

IT IS ALSO HARD TO BELIEVE

THAT I HAVE COME THROUGH IT

ALL. MY NAME IS STELLA WOOD

AND THIS IS MY STORY.

(SCENE FILMED AS CAR PULLS AWAY AND THEN INSIDE SHOT OF STELLA IN THE BACK SEAT WITH HEAD ON HANDS LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOW.)

OPENING TITLE GOES ACROSS SCREEN

‘FALLEN STAR’