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

Pd170p camera.
This camera gives a High definition picture quality, alongside a choice of colour to record with. this could be either black or white, sepia and in colour. the camera allows there to be free movement and a verity of shots down to it's strong handle. The camera also comes with a high quality built in play back mode in which helps you Finnish the recording to a good standard. Using the camera i found out that there was a variety of ways in which there was to record. I felt comfortable using the camera for the task. I had to do a point of view shot and i instantly got the hang of the camera and how to work around the camera.


TRIPOD
The tripod allowed easy filming and a variety of shots to be shot. placing the camera on the tripod allowed us to shoot shots the best was. If we had carried the camera the shots wouldn't have come out as good has they could have. With the help of a tripod we could do shots like over the shoulder, and high angles at the best quality that they could be. The tripod also allows stillness of shots, which meant better camera work.





Apple Mac

As i usually use windows, the useage of the apple mac semmed to be challenging. This was becuase of the different interface in which the apple mac provided. as time went on and i got used to the apple mac i started to see the qaulities that it provided. As editorit was crucial that i knew my way round the mac for a good qaulity end product.



Final cut pro
final cut pro was he software that we used for editing. finaly cut pro in all was easy to work through, although different aspects like transitions and cuts in the exact place at times invilved two time lines. The main thing i learnt from final cut pro was how to add music into the scenes and also hoe to export the files to the correct video mode so that prootional site like youtube will be able to support the video.









(This above clip was very useful in helping me inderstand my way around final cut pro).


sound track pro is what i used to edit sounds to fit into our film. Using soundtrack pro i was able to figure out how to make music using a layerd format.







Other things leant from technologies

• How to change speed on final cut pro to add suspence.
• How to export and import scenes from a tape onto the programm of final cut pro to edit.
• Different ways to promote the product through using technology and uploading to youtube.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

intended audience

The intended audience for our product would be from age 15 to about 25. basically from mid teens to mid twenties.
Reasons for this choice of age group include:

The controversial issues it deals with a controversial issue such as prostitution, stereotypes and violence.


Defence of the Realm is a 1985 political thriller directed by David Drury. Starring Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, Denholm Elliott and Robbie Coltrane.
The film takes its title from the 1914 Defence of the Realm Act (DORA), passed at the start of the First World War, which gave the Government executive powers to suppress criticism, imprison without trial and commandeer economic resources for the war effort.
[edit] Plot summary
Following a crash of a nuclear bomber at an American Air Force base in the English countryside, Dennis Markham (Ian Bannen), a prominent member of Parliament and opponent of the American nuclear presence in the United Kingdom , is reported by a London paper to have been seen leaving a woman's home. When the woman is found to also be familiar with a dignitary from East Germany, his loyalty to his country is questioned and he is forced to resign, reminiscent of the 1963 Profumo Affair. The author of the newspaper exposé, Nick Mullen (Gabriel Byrne), continues his investigation with his colleague Vernon Bayliss (Denholm Elliott) who suspects that Markham is being framed for his views. But when Vernon dies from a mysterious heart attack, Mullen suspects something deeper at work and finds evidence of a complex cover up concerning the near accident and a secret Air Force base. With the help of Markham's secretary, Nina Beckman (Greta Scacchi), Mullen continues to investigate the affair despite the best attempts of the British Government to stop him.
(taken from winkipedia)

this film also deals with controversial issues with government and politics. same as how our film deals with issues that the public can also relate to.

another reason for the choice of age group was the violence within the film



this film is about gangs and a boys jurney and struggle to get out of his volent life. with this film a lot of people can relate to the struggles that the protagonist meets on his jurney. the public can also relate to this as seeing a kid go through struggles in his life and make something of himself, which still happens today.

The final reason for the chocie of age is the understanding of the film. People within this age group have the best understanding of topics like this, esspecially in this day and age. Therefore the fact that this has young people staring in the film betweween the ages of 15-25 give a better relation to the audience. therfore people of the age group would be the ones that would want to watch the film.

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

Task brief
Add continuity. Walk through a door.
A brief discussion between to characters.
The clip had to show match on action, shot reverse shot and must follow the 180 degree rule.

Continuity



From the preliminary task i learnt the importance of continuity within a film. continuity helps the audience make good sense of a film moreover it allows suspense within the film to be created. Continuity is something that we found very important and useful in our main task as it helped with the suspense of our film. To fulfill good continuity within a film we found out that we had to take a variety of shots for one scene, and later in the editing when we look through the footage we shot, we will choose the shots that we would like to add in our preliminary task.
the rules of continuity include:

• coherent narrative. So that audience do not question the sequence of the film



• narrative tension . this allows disbelief within the audience



• seamless editing. This also allows a continuous flow for the film.

Shot reverse shot

With the shot reverse shot one figured that doing this shot would be when a script would be useful. This is because in each take and angle, the dialogue needs to be the same, this helps with continuity with the film. we took many shots and takes for the shot reverse shot therefore we would have more footage to work with within the film while editing.

Working in groups:
while doing the preliminary task we had to work in groups, as this is what we would be doing for the main task. Things that we learnt while working in group include

• That it is essential for all group members to contribute their ideas during filming so that all shots can be taken and more footage can be worked with.



• That it is essential to listen to what others say in the group as this will prevent arguing and fighting within the group.



• Good communication within the group is essential as good communication enables good organisation of filming and gathering actors for the film in which my group later found out during the filming of abduction.

(members of my group working together during filming)

Planning and production of Abduction

• The fact that the preliminary planning was more or less improvised by our group, we learnt that planning was essential for our group, by this the quality of our film would be of a better quality and the film would take less time to shoot.
  
• A storyboard made it much easier for the cameraman to get the right shots for the film, with his he knew the angle to shoot, where to shoot and when to stop, moreover he also had a good idea of what we were looking for in the camera work as a group.


• with the experience from the preliminary task my group knew the importance of planning beforehand, the planning also helped with the editing, knowing when Diagetic and non-diagetic sound would come into use, the exact sound to use during the different scenes.

• Planning also helped us to gather actors and know what we were looking for with actors.
  

Research within audiences

Although there was no research for the preliminary task, research was critical for the main task. the reason for research was to know what our audience would want in a film. we did this through a poll and asking people in our desired audience. Research was critical so that our film didn't become a unsuccessful in drawing an audience. it was apparent that our research had payed off because of the buzz around the film when it was shown to the first few people in our intended audience.

( intended audience)

The most important thing i learnt was to plan well for the film, and do good research. moreover organisation and communication is the key for a good production, and at times our group didn't show enough of that. moreover i learnt how important a script was for exspecially for narrative, so that components like shot reverse shot could be added in the film.

how did you Adrress/attract your audience

In our film we twisted the normal stereotypes that are often associated with black people. The kind of black hooded character that is ready to attack or mug somebody on the street is used in the film. we expect the audience to automatically think that we are going for the stereotypical view and idea that the antagonist is the tall black man, in which eventually it doesn't turn out to be.





These kind of stereo types are often used in different films. one typical film is called one day. This film is a thriller in which the stereotypes of young black male in hoods and violence is lived up to. This stereotype is lived up to through the large use of guns and gang culture.






This film was set in Birmingham and this portrays the stereotypical view on black people with hoods gun and knives. This would be the picture that would have been painted by the audience as we had the chase scene. There was many occasions on which i heard questions like "why are they using such a stereo typical character? when they thought that the guy in the black hood would be the antagonist.

Another way that he addressed the audience was through the case of a young girl walking home from school and getting abducted. This would remind people about several cases in where teenagers have been taken or abducted after walking home from school. For example in the case of Milly dowler in which milly was walking home from school then taken and murderd.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1947954.stm



In the synopsis we also talk about the fact that our protagonist is taken to do prostitution. this would be a case of sex trafficing which is also a big case around the world. Which is another issue that we have adressed whitin the film. sexual slavery has often been talked about in the news.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_slavery





Sexual slavery or forced sexual slavery is the organized coercion of unwilling people into different sexual practices. It is most common in areas such as Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Sexual slavery may include single-owner sexual slavery, ritual slavery sometimes associated with traditional religious practices, slavery for primarily non-sexual purposes where sex is common, or forced prostitution.In general, the nature of slavery means that the slave is de facto available for sexual intercourse, and ordinary social conventions and legal protections that would otherwise constrain an owner's actions are not effective. For example, extramarital sex between a married man and a slave was not considered adultery in most societies that accepted slavery. (taken from the winkipedia link above)

I think the fact that people were talking about twist and the Punch scene was what attracted people to our film. the hype surrounding those two scene was a lot, therefore a high request for the film was high.

Other ways in which the film attracted the audience:

• College scene that everyone can relate to as to the school environment

• Touch upon subjects that may have affected people in one way or the other
• Well know subjects touches upon that everyone is familiar with
• The unexpected break of stereotype
• using people of a certain age group to act in the film
• use of youtube, and faceook to give everyone acess to the film
• made a facebook group so that we can keep the audience updated with our product
  
  

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Evaluation1. Promotion

One way that the audience of our product was address was through a facebook group. Facebook is a social networking site, that is used world wide. the website is predominately a user integrated website.

this picture is a print screen of the facebook group. The facebook group enables us to give updates concerning the film, dates the film will be out, and further information.

This websites enables us to advertise our product through viral marketing. this is where the users join the group and invite friends to join the group. with this the money for marketing and promotion actually cost no money at all.

here is a print screen of a group invitation window. this gives a picture of the group, in addition to the name of the person who has invited you to the group. With this the user of the software would be able to have assurance that the link or group is not a counterfeit one, and one that they can rely on.

Another way in which people can also help us promote our product. this is through people sharing our product on their pages on facebook. with this people who are not on the facebook group can have access to the video, therefore if people think the video is good, they will share it whiting themselves and therefor a wider range of audience will be accessed.

Although the downside of this is that only facebook users can access the blog, therefore there would need to be another way that we could advertise. this is where the poster comes into play. the dark colours of the poster relates to the concept of abduction, through the dark colours within it. The choice of colour brings the suspense within the film and the stereotypical idea of someone getting abducted and put into a dark room.

Another way of advertising was putting posters of the film around. this would raise public awareness of the film and also draw attention to those who we wont be able to reach through social networking sites.

Posting the video on youtube was also a good idea for promotion of the product. youtube is a world wide based video sharing site, in which is user generated. security on youtube is high, which mean a duplication of our video cannot be made as seen in the below print screen .
therefore with this nobody Can copy our production or work because youtube has record on this in their system, and none can steal or edit the work.

moreover we put posters around college to promote our film. This created a certain hype with our product in which people were automatically attracted  to the film and asking when is it out.  

script

Script for Abduction

character profiles - Not used

Name: Sophie McDonald
Age: 17
Appearance: slim, blond hair, attractive,
Hight: 5ft 7
Costume:hand bag to carry bag, glasses, ipod.
Sophie is a vunrable teenage girl who is cautious about herself but sometimes can be careless which gets her into alot of trouble as we will see as the film goes on.

The character of Sophie would have been played by Keira Stone although due to her not being able to make our filming date she was not in our thriller. We Originally chose Keira to play the character of Sophie because we wanted Sophie to have attractive and studious looks. We believe that Keira has all these attributes as she is studying and has these attractive looks that we are looking for in the character of Sophie.

score notes

Foot steps with a mellow youthful sound. By the phrase mellow youthful sound. By the youthful sound we mean the music of artist that appeal to teenagers, and young adults, preferably the type of music that would appeal to girls as in the opening scene we would have a shot of the college, and have the girl walking out of college. The ideal sound of music that we would be looking for would be along the lines of RnB music or even light rock music.

The music then silences down as Jerome calls out. With this there would be a sense of suspense within the audience as in something dramatic would be about to happen.

As the chase is on, there would need to be music that brings up a lot of action. This kind of music would be hip hop with a hard bass sound and hard snare sound. The beat would have to be in fast pace. The reason for such choice would be so that a representation of the male chasing the girl. This would make the audience think that the male that is chasing he would be the antagonist.

When Jerome brings out the book, after saying he has something for Sophie (the girl in the scene) there would be a rising sound of strings. With this non diagetic sound of music, the audience will hopefully be at the edge of there seats feeling that something is going to happen to the girl. When the male finally reveals it’s a book he has in his hand, the music will now turn to the original used at the beginning of the sequence.

As Sophie our main character walks away after reviving the book another woman walks up to her and asks her for a cigarette. When this happens the music stops. The girl asks Sophie for a cigarette, as this happens the girl punches Sophie in the face. When this happens a non diagetic sound of a bang will start up, while this bang is heard, the music used in the chase will start up again as Sophie is dragged in the car.

props

The glasses are used by Sophie to create a representation of her. The glasses will connote to the audience that she is less able and weak which will add to her sense of vulnerability which is key to establishing her character.

Headphones so that will help us in our representation of sophie as a young teenage girl.


Textbook
The prop in the form of a media studies textbook will be used to connote to the audience why he is chasing Sophie down the alley to give her the book, which in turn shows that Jerome is not the antagonist, when he hands the textbook to her.

A bag for sophie so the audience can represent her as being a student.

A car, for the scene where sophie gets dragged into 1.

shot list

Shot Number 1.

March 15 2010.Today I started with the editing just to see the footage we had so far. Unfortunately the footage wasn’t good enough to be edited. The main problem was the fact that there were soon many mistakes with the camera work and acting, moreover the tap we used was damaged therefore the quality of film wasn’t good at all. Although there were a few shots that were saved onto the pc. As they were the best shots we had at the time, which was the scene where we have one of our characters leaning against the wall and noticing our protagonist walking past. Apart from that we needed to re-film the whole thing again so that we could change the tape, and correct some of the mistakes that were made during filming.

March 16 2010.Today I started editing again. This footage we had now was much better than before. The camera work was better and the mistakes made during the 1st filming were corrected. While cropping the footage we had we started to notice some hitches within the acting although these could still be hidden by editing. I managed to get the first 30 second of the film done to a reasonable standard. With this I started to explore the software of final cut pro more. I figured out how to change the speed of the clips moreover I also figured out how to change the lighting of the film, in addition to crop the image so that objects we have captured within the shot that aren’t meant to be there can be eliminated.

March 17 2010.Today I got a lot of the editing done, due to the fact that I now have more knowledge through experience on the software, I managed to get a lot of editing done. How ever we got up to the part where our protagonist gets caught b y her pursuer and receives her text book. He figured that this scene wasn’t that good and would need refilling.

Production poster

This is the poster for promotion of our film. I chose this design because it add suspense, in addition to it fulfills some of the codes and conventions of a thriller for example a dark background, and use of light . the poster includes the staring cast, production company and the age classification. The font was chosen to attract the attention of the audience and make the film worth watching.

Textual analysis

We are first introduced to our main character (the protagonist) as a child. This is done through an Irish mobster who grooms our protagonist and a few other youths. As the film goes on our protagonist is portrayed as cocky obnoxious and arrogant. We are shown this through one of the scenes at the very beginning in where we see him loose in a game of rugby, and ends up doing insultive hand gestures toward the opposing team in addition to make insultive and abusive comments toward the opposing team. As our protagonist grows up we see him in a police academy which gives us the idea that he is training to be a police officer due to his experience in the mob, although later on in the film our protagonist soon agrees to drop out of the academy to do time in prison because of a “Phony assault charge.” This as we see later on in the film increases his credibility. The audience identifies with the protagonist as he grows up, being groomed by the Irish mobster, as a boy who knows no better as he’s lived a rough life, so he looks up to this mobster as a father figure.

Throughout this film people are not aware of our protagonist’s true identity. This secret would be one of the Irish mob that he was part of when he was younger. This secret puts him in a lot of danger as everybody is now after him to get to the father figure we were introduced to at the beginning of the film. The director builds a sense of suspense that makes the audience find out our protagonist has been found out. This is during the scene where one of the force tells our protagonist that he knows his real identity, but then the camera cuts into a shot wound that this character has endured and later on he dies. This scene here puts the audience on the edge as someone now knows something that they do as well.

The quick editing adds a lot of suspense to this action thriller, and it successfully keeps the audience at the edge of their seats at all time. Moreover the anticipation of our protagonist getting caught is even more nail biting. Moreover the use of dark lights with fire in the background in many scenes adds to the action within the scene, in addition to it represents the danger and implications of getting caught.

Unlike most thrillers this thriller contains a lot close ups on the characters, and other shots to establish our characters. I think the director does this to help the Audience relate to the character, as he is growing up within the film, almost like a life journey.

Textual Analysis

Taken is a film which was written by Luc Besson Mark Kamen, directed by Pierre Morel and released in 2008. This thriller is a movie with the sub genres of action crime and drama.
Our main character is a Decorated and highly-skilled CIA Special Activities Division officer Bryan Mills. In the film the director portrays to the audience that he has a teenage daughter who travels to paris and gets capered hence the title of the film taken. Our main protagonist uses his experience and skills from his work to locate his daughter; he does this through recording conversations with his daughter. The films action is based around his battle with the people who were involved in the kidnapping. Eventually he finds his daughter being prostituted to a pimp, the combat then continues as the kidnappers try to hide our protagonist’s daughter from him.

The film has an element of suspense as the director shows us the audience many clues and answers to questions that would have been asked within the film. This literally gives the audience an affect that a pantomime has. For example if the protagonist is walking in a wrong direction or walking into danger, the audience would literally be saying go the other way, or shaking their heads cause they know something that the protagonist doesn’t.

The Director portrays our protagonist as someone that the audience could relate to, as there are many sides to him. He has a daughter that is now lost, he is divorced from his daughters mother and a very lonely man. Our protagonist is also seen to be secluded form the outside world as he is often in his dark apartments looking at photos of his daughter. Moreover the audience also synthesizes with our protagonist, especially in the part of the film where he goes to his daughter’s party where he is not wanted. The rejection on the faces of those at the party makes the audience synthesize with him.

When it comes down to the action of the film our protagonist has very little weaknesses due to his past experience with his old profession, however this contrasts with his softer sides. The main weakness our protagonist has is how much he actually loves his daughter. Therefore the kidnappers of his daughter know how to hurt him, and they do this through his daughter, and mentally scar our protagonist. This means he is hurt a lot while trying to fight off the kidnappers.

An enigma was created around the character from the beginning of the film as he spoke to his daughter’s capturer he says, “I have a various set of skills that I have acquired from a long career”. These skills that our protagonist talks and boasts about are later revealed later on in the film when he uses his special forensic skills to locate his daughter, with this the director successfully portrays to the audience a man that is not that of normal human intelligence.

Another mystery that arises in the film would be his divorce to his wife. The audience is left wondering why they broke up as every time they came across each other she looks at him in a resentful way, This gives the audience the suspicion that he did something wrong to her. We then later on learn that he sacrificed his marriage for his government career, which then leads to him being able to rescue his daughter. But amongst all this is another mystery, why did our protagonist stop working for the government. This too is answered later on through the film when he states that the reason he left is because he desired a better relationship with his daughter and that he missed his daughter.

Kim is also another main character and her aesthetics is very important in the telling the audience about her. She at first seems to be a normal, innocent girl because she wears a lot of girly colors and natural makeup. We find out she is loving towards her dad but also secretive as she lies about where she is going. Younger views could easily identify with this character, a rebel girl who often lies about where she is going, in addition to a hard life with the separation of her parents. Her main weakness would be the fact that she is easily lead on, as we can see that she is lead on my a French man called peter who gives her an invitation to a fake party.

In the form of this event the audience is left wondering if the character of Kim will be okay, and what the plot is going to be. Clues from this question arise as the jacket of Kim is found; moreover clues from other prostitutes are also given. At the end as we know she was found eventually, answering the question that arises.

Throughout this film the degree of suspense has been lifted and decreased by the music. As in most thrillers the music is a massive tool in adding tension f=to the film and decreasing the tension from the film. One example of where the music is used to add tension is where brain kicked down each door and sees a dying prostitute, this leaves the audience on the edge of their seats wondering if he will kick down the door and see his daughter there. The audience feels as if he is about to find her but in fact he does not find her in any of the rooms and therefore the buildup ends anti-climatically. . It is common in thriller that there is a lot of buildup of tension which end anti-climatically until the final build up when something exciting happens; this is usually the aspect of the thriller genre that keeps the audience interested.
This of course leads to another enigma. Is Kim dead already? It also reveals to the audience that his friend who is supposedly meant to be helping him is indeed involved in his downfall. The use of dramatic irony creates a sense of danger which his doesn’t realize until he discovers that Jean-Claude, head of security for France, is betraying him. Information regarding the whole film is made during the experiences on Brian. This is done through his struggle to get back him daughter from the kidnappers that took her. We know at the end that his main priority which would be to amend his relationship with his family is amended when Lenny’s new husband says that Brian is always welcome to anything he needs.
In conclusion I do feel that the film fit perfectly into the genre of a thriller, but I do feel the film can be long winded at times but it does create the suspense, tension and action of a thriller.