Bricolage

Music narratives:
• 8 mile
• The Doors
• School of Rock
• Tenacious D
• Michael Jackson
• Mighty Boosh: Fresh perspective on rock music and rock bands.
• Boat that Rocked (parody of real life events= when rock and roll took off.
• Remixing existing audience opinions about the music industry
• Stereotypes: Rock musicians: Drugs, women etc.
• Woodstock parodies
• Hippies


These music narratives help to shape our understanding of music culture and how it influences society. The music narratives that are listed above help to show this and help to break the boundaries and establish new stereotypes and link to bricolage in terms of 'building' our knowledge and some of these examples are based on real events such as woodstock and the emergence of rock and roll music. These help to create perfect parodies for a new piece of media.

The Mighty Boosh

· Looking in the camera: Reaching out to the audience and giving them a more detailed idea of the current situation.
· Postmodern ideas over what is good music: ‘no-one listens to Jazz’
· Eclectic ideas of costume. Nothing they wear makes sense in the scenes.
· No laughter track
· Characters have similar characteristics, but also very different ones
· Tying in new musical ideas that modern artists like Lily Allen attempt to use.
· Mise-en-scene working on music in small room. Like working on a car in a garage. Personal thinking space.
· Active audience: playing on the hilarious side of eclecticism encourages people to watch after seeing the adverts.
· Postmodern: Takes self reflective approach
· Mixture of pleasure and trauma like in the Office
· Eclecticism gives it own identity in tough TV area : Sitcom
· Parody of music programmes that are focused on a love of music but are a lot more mature
· Audience can empathise with the characters as these are the sought of situations that can crop up in everyday society.

Postmodernist film poster

I believe that this poster that I have created has postmodernist ideologies, such as the morals ( with Miles being kicked out of the house) , mix of low and high cultures ( football and the need for adventure) and also the mix of setting with the playing of football and Miles' house in different moods. The slogan also refers to chasing your dreams which shows the element of adventure and ambition which blended with the new generation of younger people I believe creates a true feeling of Postmodernistic impressions.

Genova notes

Road to Guantanimo notes

Oh brother where art thou ? notes

lesson notes

Pastiche = Mixture of styles
Leone Tarrantino (Good the bad and the ugly)
Principles – Morals, values
Blade Runner: Dystopian science fiction. It is about time or the lack of it. Real world concerns in a fantasy setting
Jameson (Postmodern critic)
“Pluralism is the inevitable state of late capitalism”

Technology problems

I haven't been able to upload the notes from the analysis of films , such as intolerable cruelty due to internet connection problems with my computer at home.

Summary of the week's lessons

This week I ahve learned a lot about about the different aspects of PAINPIPES, such as nihilism and pastiche. I also watched adulthood in order to gain more understanding of postmodern society and its good and bad elements as well as how it links to the real world society in which we live.

Notes from Last lesson

Last lesson I learned about postmodernism and its different aspects. · PAINPIPES: Playfulness, Aesthetic ( the way things look), Intertextual (bringing in another text) Nihilism, Parody, Irony , Pastiche, Eclectic (blend of genres), Self referential

· High culture : Ballet, TV, Film, Newspaper, Religion
· Low Culture: Club membership,
Modernism starting with series of paintings showing positives and negatives of cultural identity and clear messages and values were portrayed.

Boat that Rocked H/W

Truth Representation Reason for change - media theory and analysis where possible
Tony Benn was postmaster general in charge of shutting down pirate radio. He was a labour minister Kenneth Branagh as Minister Dormandy (loose parody of Benn) an implied Tory he aims to shut the station down Stereotype of austere minister, humourless, creating a binary opposition to the DJs.
Musical output and style of presentation of the first (pirate) station ( Radio Caroline) very similar to BBC radio light programme Compares restricted and very non recorded output of the BBC. 3 radio services of 1966. One liberal service Anti-Elitist, pluralistic ( pop culture) showing how people can challenge governments
By the late 1960s, Britons were able to enjoy a host of media Collective identity of naïve Britons huddled around radio for pirate stations Mythological image of 2nd world war and 1950s families huddled
Most music played on most radio stations was classic with only about 45 minutes pop or rock played in the day Radio rock playing rock and roll 24/7. Constant reference to this fact. To show the significance and showcase the importance of the emergence of Rock and roll music.
Radio One DJ Emperor Rosko Represented in the film as the Count To keep the idea of the characters the same but not make them too similar or the film would lose it’s personal identity
The significance of Jazz on the BBC Not mentioned in the film Keep the emphasis on the importance of Rock and Roll for this narrow area of music culture
Tony Blackburn breakfast disk jockey during 1960s Chris O’Dowd’s character Simon is used for the film Showing the more modern equivalent of Blackburn and portraying him in a more humorous way to suit Curtis’ style of directing.
Families used to be huddled round the radio for the broadcasts Shows not just families but also others, such as kids staying up instead of going to bed To try and link it to present day audiences and in so doing help the audience of the film to relate to the listeners of Radio rock
Many previous generations were brought up on the Radio Rock’s type of music Portraying the vast audiences so effectively For the older members of the viewing audience to relate to their childhood
All of the real pirate radio ships of the 1960s used single-mast antennas Ship that was used for filming used twin mast antennas Better sound quality to make the film more professional

The boat that rocked

The target audience for the boat that rocked is those who like the top British actors and comedians all in the same film and generally enjoy a film that has a clear sense of humour. They also may be those who like 1960s culture which is when this film is set. There also may be music fans who watch the film for its soundtrack which received rave reviews.
I know this, because of the film’s soundtrack and the clear element of slapstick comedy that’s central to the film and its plot. Also Richard Curtis has become an icon of British film and the success of actors like Bill Nighy and Nick Frost means that a larger audience is attracted as they are clearly aware of their talent.
The film relies on the stereotypes of radio djs being irresponsible and also of politicians having no sense of fun with them attempting to shut down radio rock. It also stereotypes celebrities being nothing but thick and driven by the limelight and sex
Celebrities being bad role models British media
Bad attitude Controversial
Irresponsible Negative
Selfish Scandal
Rude Celebrity bad press
Arrogant corrupt
Dumb wrong
Childish Inappropriate content
Immature Influence
Bad people skills Popular
Involved with substances like drugs Widespread

These stereotypes are be quintessentially British, because the British press often receives severe criticism from the public and higher powers and British celebrities are all too often surrounded in controversy.
The ways that Curtis and the team can be said to be appealing to the mythological tendencies of the audience, include the fact that the British government is all powerful and that many people root for the underdog and this is the core of the film with the radio station fighting off government pressure to stay on the air. They also try and make the impossible possible which is what can make a film so appealing. They try and play on the audiences desires to see a great British comedy film that is very appealing and heart-warming whilst also including all the mythological elements that the audience may also desire.

Film making process from concept to culmination
Firstly an idea is pitched to the producers and film companies for the plot of the film. When it is agreed upon a script must be written in order for the film to be properly planned and be prepared for. They must then hire the crew, including of course the actors to make the film a reality. Some may not be available due to other commitments so those hiring the crew have to come up with a shortlist in case this happens so that they have a back up plan so that the film won’t lose its appeal or integrity if the first choice wasn’t available to work on this film. Then the film must be shot which can take several months to a year to shoot especially if some actors commit to the film as well as any other commitments that they may have. Then it must be edited and then distributed to the audience .

Stereotypes – collective or individual?

· Reflection: In terms of what’s reflected most of us are willing to wear positive generalizations to get with pride, but argue with those who criticise us. Positive generalization could also be insulting e.g. black runners being the best and only highlighting them as in a small minority. The problem with the traditional view is that stereotypes reflect culture. Religion is another key factor of reflection as it is almost central to the way millions of people base the way they live their lives. For example Christians will God as all loving where as atheists who have no faith at all will immediately dismiss this view as it challenges their beliefs and also they stereotype God as being non existing or hateful for example. Stereotypes can either be fair or unfair, for example in skins they possibly represent unfair stereotypes such as sex and violence whereas not all teenagers will act in that particular way.
· Intentional: Social forces can influence the way that we describe things influence to use culturally derived stereotypes in conversations. This can include political factors, satire and political correctness. Often the stereotypes we here about encourage or discourage behaviours by certain people and groups within society. We’re not only told what to think, but we are also taught for example in secondary school and on work courses. There is also the factor of prejudice. Prejudices are important to intentional behaviour description as we all have the tendency to prejudge people and also many different important issues without knowing all of the facts first. We also can use stereotypes intentionally when we are being bullied for example and the feelings such as fear and hatred act as the social forces for a counter attack on the bully , for example for a bully saying how they are stupid and also maybe in the heat of the moment may make insulting comments about the bully’s family. In skins for example hormones can make stereotypes intentional and also through social forces such as mistreatment in school.
· Constructed: Most stereotypes are uniformly held so evidence for collective representations are weak. The role of culture in our everyday lives helps to construct some particularly strong social stereotypes, such as the irresponsibleness of teenagers in Britain through consequences, such as teenage pregnancies and teenage drivers being reckless. Other factors include cultural legitimacy and consensus. Powerful cultural messages about stereotypes can be expressed publically and under other conditions as well. Stereotypes are usually very well structured, because they are based around a strong issue in society and those particularly political and social ones have many attributes to support them. An example of this is from the time of George Bush being president of USA and people stereotyped him as being corrupt, having low intelligence and also having a poor grasp of reality and everything that was going within the world both politically and socially. Skins represents constructed stereotypes with mainly the worst of British teenage culture shining through.

Culture work

USA History France History UK History
World War 1 World war 1 World war 1
World war 2 World war 2 World war 2
Cold war St. Bartholomew’s day massacre Hundred years war
Kennedy assassination French Revolution Creation of the BBC
Cold War Hundred years war Battle of Britain
Gulf war Battle of Waterloo Great depression
9/11 Invention of sports such as cricket.
Wall street crash
Moon landing
Wright Bros. Flight
US sports invented


US sports may be played little elsewhere according to Barthes, because they signify more than themselves and have more meaning to US culture than other cultures. It is also a symbol of USA’s natural identity and that signs can sometimes cover up past history. USA is a sports fest with many different sports played so maybe also out of the pride that comes with landmarks or inventions it encourages that society to show off its gift to the world.
The function of these sports is to enrich local culture and bring it together and to show their possible superiority over other countries and celebrate the countries culture with the public.


Gangster genre in US culture

Typical signs (codes) and conventions Signified Mythical function to audience
Gun crime Legal Lack of responsibility
Drugs Lack of moral behaviour Power of certain influences
Car jacking Innocent victims Poor values mean that it can be seen as a more natural occurrence.
Gangs Fear of big groups of people, particularly teenagers Makes them a stronger and more dangerous culture than other US cultures

Michael Shields freed after Jack Straw intervenes

This is a case study that I've found that has been all over the newspaper headlines. Michael Shields is a Liverpool FC supporter who was jailed for life for attempted murder and has spent the last 4 years in prison. He has been released after overwhelming evidence was presented that he wasn't even at the scene and the citizens of Liverpool even both Liverpool and Everton supporters marched in protest and gave overwhelming support backing his innocence

What I learnt in today's lesson

Today I learned in Mr. Wroe's lesson about what areas of the media have the most influence on British youth and the stereotypes involved in this using microcosms and macrocosms to explain them. The lesson was good for me to get back into the groove of media lessons as i may have been rusty during the summer and it was a good warm up and introduction to the work that I'll be covering this year.

How the issue of censorship affects our notion of collective identity and therefore britishness in film

In terms of choices in production a film script and plot is based around a target audience and how scenes are planned and carried out depend on the age group targeted and how to make the scenes suitable for their specific viewing age. For example the portrayal of themes such as violence and swearing can be used in order to portray the link to real life themes although these wouldn't be suitable portrayals for younger viewing audiences to see. However films that are rated PG contain some of these more adult themes, but are strictly limited in order to stay within the boundaries of set by the BBFC and still attract a large age base for the film.

In terms of how the issues of censorship can affect our consumption of a film through semiotics the themes of violence and sex for example signify a link to real life portrayal and signifies that some younger audiences need protection from these themes as they will stop them influencing them and also may not understand why these things occur. Also changes in the censoring of films signifies that times are changing in the film industry in terms of what lower age viewing audiences should be allowed to see. For example in 2002 the new 12a rating replaced 12 as the first Spiderman film had driven away so many young fans and this was a prime part of the target market. Therefore 12a was introduced where a child who saw a 12 rated film in the cinema must be accompanied by an adult.

Britishness in film is also effected by the notion of collective identity especially as 18 rated films such as ' This is England ' can represent the worst of British culture and also in lower rated films the best of Britishness with attributes such as equality and helpfulness higlighted almost like the worst of britishness in films is trying to be kept as secret as possible through higher film ratings.

Hot Fuzz - Working title

Hot Fuzz is a police action comedy film set in a sleepy village in the English countryside. Working Title has also produced such films as Shaun of the Dead which also starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. They have also made a number of films starring the popular actor Rowan Atkinson including the Mr. Bean films and Johnny English. However working title doesn't just specialise in comedy films it also produced such films as Frost/Nixon and Atonement. Hot fuzz's director Edgar Wright has also directed films, such as Shaun of the dead and A fistful of fingers.

scene near the end

middle scene

Opening scene of my proposed film

Richard Curtis

He lived in different countries during his childhood, including Sweden and The Phillipines and was born in Wellington in New Zealand . Studied literature at Oxford where he first met Rowan Atkinson and ironically now lives in Notting Hill. He based some of his work around his personal life including 4 weddings and a funeral with him and his partner's experience of meeting so many times at other people's weddings before finally getting together. Richard Curtis portrays Britishness by combining a range of different factors/ingredients to make one of his rom-coms. These include a good location either in or outside of London as well as making the values very clear to see as well as the humiliation that frequently is present in the humour of the film. He also portrays Britishness as a proud heritage which probably influenced him while spending his main educational years in Britain. He may also have been influenced by the way British culture was developing over the many years and working with people like Rowan Atkinson influenced his sense of humour and how he could adapt it to the big screen. His atheism also is a key factor in the writing of his programming.

Proposed year 13 film

Values and ideologies:

Trust- Trying to work together to fight off the incoming threat
Loss- The deaths of the video game characters
Suffering - Torture and pain as well as unpredictablity during the chaos.

Key demons/Folk devils

The film is against the playing of violent video games and also betraying others.

I will be consistent with these components in every shot and scene by doing plenty of close up shots and highlighting the characters emotions as well as showing the effects of the demons and what they can do for the worse. Also show the pain and threat of those fighting the games characters while others are screaming in pain.

British myths : Work of Richard Curtis

According to the writer Richard Curtis combines a range of different factors/ingredients to make one of his rom-coms. These include a good location either in or outside of London as well as making the values very clear to see as well as the humiliation that frequently is present in the humour of the film. It compares the work of British myth to American myth with American myth portrayed. His views of humour are firmly based on his own beliefs and the morals in his films are clearly highlighted around the 'moral universe'.

How are British Icons (and others) used in Notting Hill ?

British Icons are used in this film, firstly with the familar British cast members. These include Tim Mcinnerny from Blackadder and Emma Chambers who played Alice in Vicar of Dibley. By including these British Tv stars it helps to maintain the film as British and also helps the audience to relate to the film more easily. Another way that British icons are used is the use of the small area of Notting Hill which is location of the film. This is iconic as it is an area of London as Will mentions at the start of the film is very busy and full of history and tradition. As well as that the use of an American actress being in one of the lead roles helps to show the strength of the Anglo-American relationship. Having a big Hollywood actress, such as Julia Roberts appearing in the film shows the ambition of British film makers.

Notting Hill - Working Title Films

There are a number of ways that Notting Hill can be linked with the idea of myth underpinning cinema, because the plot is entertaining as the plot is so unique and unlikely and this helps the film to play on the audience's humour. Another way is that it helps to portray the theory that films nowadays aren't really truly conventional. The version of Britishness that's being portrayed in Notting Hill is the true love elemant and that poosites attract. It helps to show the attractiveness of living in Britain and the people have their own personalities and live their own unique lifestyles. For example the character of Will is self-deprecating, clumsy and disorganised and loveable whereas Anna is Cool yet passionate fragile and extremely fragile, but ambitious.

They're completely different from Honey who is wacky rebellious and lacking direction or ambition and Spike ( Will's roomate) who's outrageous, like Honey lacks direction, is an alcoholic and also is likeable but not really loveable.

Comparison of Italian Job and Get Carter

The Italian Job and Get Carter both starred Michael Caine and are both classic crime films. However there are plenty of similarities and differences between the 2 films. The similarities include, the fact that Get Carter also stars Tony Beckley who played Camp Freddie in The Italian Job and the vehicles that were featured in the film were similar to The Italian Job such as the iconic British Cars, The Mini Cooper and the 4x4 Land Rover. Michael Caine's character in both films is a strong male figure with a no nosense attitude and always with a clear motivation for his crimes. In terms of the portrayal of Britishness they both symbolise the hardship and sometimes the glamour of British crime culture. However the British pride that's represented in The Italian job using the idea of 'The self Preservation Society' is clearly absent in Get Carter. The use of mob violence that's features very rarely in The Italian Job features greatly in Get Carter with torture and gun fights the name of the game. This is comparison with the Italian Job making British culture look good with its bravery and pride whereas Get Carter is full of negativity with the use of Mob violence, betrayal and death.
Other differences between the two films includes the fact that this 'job' is motivated by revenge and in The Italian Job it was to help Britain's economy. Also Michael Caine's character in Get Carter in much more violent than when he played Charlie Croker in The Italian Job and the story is mainly based in Britain rather than London and Turin in The Italian Job. The cast in Get Carter is also less prestigious. Also Michael Caine's character in Get Carter is more sympathetic than when he played Charlie Croker and is tougher on those who fail him.

Get Carter : Did I find it shocking and disturbing ?

Even though this film was made about 38 years ago I still found it as shocking and disturbing to watch as a modern day gangster film which shows how far the film was ahead of its time. To me it really highlighted the bad side of British society and culture and it shocked me as to how far one man will go just to restore his pride and avenge his brother's death.

Myths and mythology

A Myth is something that isn't true and follows basic narrative structures such as good/evil. Night at the Museum is an example of a film underpinned by myth as it's a unique idea and unlikely to be true although you can imagine it happening. The mythical system is made up by idols such as heroes such as spiderman and batman, people who's lives we would love to live.

British film pitch

It's big its bold it's now the new wars of fallen video game. However the buyers of the game are in for a bit of shock as the characters escape the game and start attacking the inhabitants of London. Will a bold team of individuals led by Martin fuller stop the chaos and restore order or will London be turned into ' the battlefield from hell' ?

What I did in today's lessons

In the first lesson I watched Get Carter to continue the Michael Caine case study and will watch the second part tomorrow. I find this film interseting due to the different factors at work such as loss and redemption. In the second lesson I improved the Blog using feedback from Mr. Wroe which I'm grateful for as it made the blog much better.

10 adjectives of Britishness acording to British film

Tradition - Cricket and other british sports
Novelty - Happy go Lucky
Distinction - Pride and prejudice
Political - Houses of parliament
Stereotype - Gentleman in picture 3rd from left
Ground-breaking - The Italian Job
Sophisticated - Gentleman in picture 3rd from left
Humourous - Shaun of the Dead
Cultural - Happy go Lucky
Charming - Pride and Prejudice

My I web experience so far

This has been a steep learning curve for me as I have had to master new technology and have to include features such as hyperlinks which I have recently figured out how to use. It is much trickier to use than my blog. The homepage was easy to set up as the tools were quite simple. I have tried uploading files from my USB stick to my website and that is at least something I’m used to doing. I’ve found customising the homepage quite enjoyable and the fact that it’s easy to edit means that it’s less of a stressful task for me to do. I feel more confident than the film editing that I did on the Macs, because it’s not as strenuous and I am now more familiar with a lot of the tools and programs. I am enjoying making the web page as I think it will be a useful resource and it also allows me to be able to show some creativity. I hope in the near future that I can create more links to pages and can also upload more of my British film industry work to my website as this will make it an even more useful media resource for me to use.

Working Title link

www.workingtitlefilms.com/ : They have porduced films such as Johnny English, Shaun of the dead, O brother where art thou ?, The boat that rocked and Pride and Prejudice. The company produces a range of different films incorporating different genres and outlines. It produces feature films and Tv productions. Their parent company is Universal studios and the website is professionly done with fim trailers, previews , downloads and poster galleries among its many features. It's a truly British film company with its films encorporating key British themes and traditions.

Summary of today's lesson

Today I watched the second half of The Italian job and took more notes on British Identity and the second half of the film integrated a key factor ( self-preservation society). The film was enjoyable to watch and at the same time turned out to be a very useful learning resource.

What I learnt in today's lessons

In Mr Wroe's lesson we learnt about what requirements would be needed for our blogs and webpages. This was useful as I could now my plan my actions for the upcoming lessons. In Ms. Baird's lesson we watched the first half of the Italian Job as part of our case study on Michael Caine. It helped me to further tie in British culture to my knowledge and will be watching the second half of the film in the lesson tomorrow.

British Film Industry

www.bfi.org.uk/

What I did in the last lesson

In the last lesson I watched Saturday Night, Sunday Morning and took notes on how British culture is portrayed in this film. it was a worthwhile experience as because it's a classic British film I could compare to modern day British society so it was a useful exercise to do.

links to teaser trailers

www.cinemagora.co.uk/movie-2553-the-queen.html : The Queen
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGSvNKqLOzg : Pride and Prejudice
v=www.metacafe.com/watch/.../looking_for_eric_teaser_trailler : Looking for eric

Teaser trailers are short previews of films or tv shows. Although, because a lot are made by fans they contain little or relevant footage. This means that they aren't as reliable as official trailers. Youtube is a big source of teaser trailers with channel users editing footage to create their own trailers.

British film websites

www.theboatthatrocked.co.uk/ : The website is very thorough in its content with different features included such as film trailers, characters, photos and downloads. This means that the audience can engage more with the film and gain a better understanding of the film, its content and the plot. The layout is excellent and very user friendly as all the content is easy to find and in keeps with the film with the boat and sea theme in the film.
http://www.lookingforericmovie.co.uk/ : The website really engages with the viewing audience, particularly with the competition for the best postman jokes. It features pop ups of all of the great reviews of the film in order to raise th prestige of the film. The trailer running in the middle means that the audience's attention is never lost while on the site's homepage. Like the boat that rocked website the layout is very good and there are many different features to explore and also plays on the prestige of Eric Cantona and his life in football with the feature : ' The cult of Cantona'.
www.happygoluckythemovie.com/: The website maintains the film's idea of the use of the feel good factor with Poppy on the trampoline. The website is possibly aimed at the female audience with the use of a pink background and the attention that's focused on Poppy who is the main character in the film. This website isn't as thorough in its content as the other two but makes up for it with its own features based around the fact that it's a truly British cult film made by Film 4 and other small british film makers.

What I did in the last 2 lessons

Firstly I tried adding some new features to my practice website. These features included hyperlinks and text comments which helped me gain more understanding of the technology that I have been using . In the other lesson I watched Bend it like Beckham and took notes on a number of areas including race, ethnicity and gender.

British images

what i did in today's lessons

In todays lessons I worked in a group investigating what truly makes a British film. We did a variety of activities such as internet research and investigating the films found in magazines. i also created my own website on the apple macs. The fact that the tools were easy to use made it an enjoyable experience.

DVD

Yesterday I managed to get my film onto a DVD. It was frustrating at times, but it was another valuable technology skill that I now possess !

Important questions of evaluation of media project

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

It develops on the themes of tragedy by signifying cowardly behaviour with the character of the kid running away and leaving the tramp to his fate. It uses the conventions of real TV dramas by making the film surprising with the different plot twists and keeping the audience guessing what will happen next which means that the audiences attention is likely to be kept. TV dramas, such as “Heroes” are particularly effective at conveying this.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our project shows the difference between different social groups with the tramp representing the difficulty of being lower class. It represents the stereotype of the higher class citizen looking down the noses at some of those who are lower down ‘the social hierarchy’.


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

Institutions such as the BBC or ITV might like to use it, because they may need them for documentaries and use it for areas, such as reconstructions. Homelessness and car crime are two of the big issues and an institution such as BBC or ITV may want to outline them in the form of a documentary. BBC is known for this with the broadcasting of programs, such as Horizon and Panorama. Also a company may want to use it as an advert, such as The Police for the themes of crime and not looking where you are going.



• Who would be the audience for your media product?

People who like drama films and like the many surprises and action of a drama film. These people would be fans of films, such as the Oxford murders. This is, because a lot of dramas are unique and that’s why they attract a large audience and I think my film is a case in point.

• How did you attract/address your audience?

It tries to get the audience to feel sympathy for the tramp. This is done by the random kid taunting him and the film also has surprises in store, such as the car appearing out of nowhere and the car hitting the tramp while the random kid leaves the tramp in the road and doesn’t help him .It attracts the audience by the themes displayed by the part such as tragedy, loss and selfishness.

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

You have to patient as it takes a while to properly edit a film. The technology doesn’t always work properly so that was another benefit of having plenty of time to edit. I took the view “If at first you don’t succeed try try try again”. I got used to the macs eventually, but I needed time to get used to them. It was an important new skill to learn though and one that could prove useful in the future.



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

I think that I’ve learnt how important it is to make your film as unique as possible like in the film industry when you try to come up with something that no-one else has done. Another thing that I’ve learnt is that using different filming techniques such as match on action is important in order to convey to the audience where the plot is going and the feelings and emotions that are being shared between the characters.

Video upload

Me and Jesse have uploaded our project to Youtube. Click the on the video bar that is labelled final to view it.

Evaluation of the main task

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

It develops on the themes of tragedy by signifying cowardly behaviour with the character of the kid running away and leaving the tramp to his fate. It uses the conventions of real TV dramas by making the film surprising with the different plot twists and keeping the audience guessing what will happen next which means that the audiences attention is likely to be kept. TV dramas, such as “Heroes” are particularly effective at conveying this.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our project shows the difference between different social groups with the tramp representing the difficulty of being lower class. It represents the stereotype of the higher class citizen looking down the noses at some of those who are lower down ‘the social hierarchy’.


What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?Institutions such as the BBC or ITV might like to use it, because they may need them for documentaries and use it for areas, such as reconstructions. Homelessness and car crime are two of the big issues and an institution such as BBC or ITV may want to outline them in the form of a documentary. BBC is known for this with the broadcasting of programs, such as Horizon and Panorama. Also a company may want to use it as an advert, such as The Police for the themes of crime and not looking where you are going.




Who would be the audience for your media product?
People who like drama films and like the many surprises and action of a drama film. These people would be fans of films, such as the Oxford murders. This is, because a lot of dramas are unique and that’s why they attract a large audience and I think my film is a case in point.

How did you attract/address your audience?
It tries to get the audience to feel sympathy for the tramp. This is done by the random kid taunting him and the film also has surprises in store, such as the car appearing out of nowhere and the car hitting the tramp while the random kid leaves the tramp in the road and doesn’t help him .It attracts the audience by the themes displayed by the part such as tragedy, loss and selfishness.





What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
You have to patient as it takes a while to properly edit a film. The technology doesn’t always work properly so that was another benefit of having plenty of time to edit. I took the view “If at first you don’t succeed try try try again”. I got used to the Macs eventually, but I needed time to get used to them. It was an important new skill to learn though and one that could prove useful in the future.



Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I think that I’ve learnt how important it is to make your film as unique as possible like in the film industry when you try to come up with something that no-one else has done. Another thing that I’ve learnt is that using different filming techniques such as match on action is important in order to convey to the audience where the plot is going and the feelings and emotions that are being shared between the characters.




The main task was the opening of a two minute thriller film. A tramp enters the scene walking down a road in the evening. A random kid runs across the road following the tramp. However as the tramp crosses the road followed by the random kid a car suddenly appears and the random kid yells: "I'm getting out of here!" and runs off up the top of the street. However the tramp is hit by the car and is left on the road and that's when the film ends. The target audience were people who like a film that’s unpredictable and exciting, in short primarily people who enjoy thriller films that contain different real world issues.
I was inspired by the work of classic films like I am legend and the effects those types of films have on their audience. I was influenced to do a thriller film as the film industry has seen plenty of high standard films that were of the thriller genre and have had a big impact on the industry especially films like “Mission impossible” , “North by North west” and the “Bourne” films.

There were plenty of positives to take from the project. For instance most of the footage we got in one take which meant that we didn't have to get rid of as many outtakes as we expected. Another good point was that we handled the apple Mac editing tools quite well and were able to successfully add sound effects and a soundtrack to our film. The uploading like the preliminary task was pretty simple and we mostly were able to stick to our filming schedule and managed to film and return the equipment on time. As well as that we managed to incorporate some useful filming techniques, such as match on action.

However there were some negatives. Firstly we had to cancel our first scheduled day of filming, because it was raining. This put me and Jesse under more pressure to get it done before the end of the week. As well as this we found it hard to fit everything together well and editing the film took about a month to do. Sound effects were also hard to come by, because on the websites with free downloads it was sometimes hard to find the effects that you needed. For example me and Jesse had to search thoroughly in order to find decent footsteps sounds and to download them for free from a website. When filming we also had difficulty matching our storyboard to our acting and as a result it took us more time to do even the simplest of filming. Another one was that the dialogue wasn't as clear as it could have been which meant that it would be more difficult for the audience to understand what was going on.

To analyse this project I think we did well, because we managed to combine normal filming and amateur footage filming in our film which was done in order to see the situation from the random kid's perspective and to engage the audience and more effectively. We also managed to fit in match on action which is a key filming technique. As well as that many themes were involved in the film, such as anguish, regret and death. This can help to draw attention to the audience. I think the use of the tramp connotes loss, despair and poverty and the random kid immaturity, disrespect and arrogance. Filming at night also signifies suspense and unpredictability with the car representing speed, risk and responsibility. Responsibility is linked to the person who was driving the car. To conclude I think that the main task went well although not as smoothly as the preliminary task which is predictable considering we had to plan this task a lot more carefully and particularly the filming schedule as the main task took about a week to film. We also managed to work well on the Macs. For next time we could try and spend time at home researching sounds and music ready for lessons so that it doesn't interfere with our editing time. We could also try incorporating more filming techniques like 180 degree rule into the film to make it more effective as a whole. As well as that we could change the speed of the credits, and make it lighter so the darkness isn’t a problem. Overall the audience feedback was very encouraging and the video got an average rating of 3 out of 4. They liked the music and credits, the camera positioning, heart beat and the fact that the film was tense.

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Adding effects

Yesterday me and Jesse added fading and new sound effects to our film. We could soon add more by exploring different sound effects library websites and downloading sounds ready to add to our film.

The start of editing

On Monday me and Jesse used the macs to start editing our project and we got it down to about 1 minute and 15 seconds with the removal of outtakes and the shortening of scenes. Next lesson we're planning to add sound effects to it. I hope it goes smoothely and according to plan !