OPENING SEQUENCE OF 'SCORE'

BEHIND THE SCENES OF 'SCORE'

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK (THE CONTINUITY EDITING TASK), WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FINAL PRODUCT?

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

Evaluation Question 6

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOU AUDIENCE?

I have attracted the audience through the main soundtrack from film 'This Is England.' The film is also a British drama and common conventions of this genre are seen in this film and 'Score.'

The sound of it early on in my product makes the audience want to keep watching and has more of an indication of what my production will offer in its story line.

Another way I have attracted my audience is through the variety of camera shots and cross-cut editing allowing for wider forms of entertainment offered to the viewers.

There is also a dual-narrative in my opening sequence that offers an insight into two stories for the audience. This keeps them interested as it is fast-paced and they have to follow both of the stories to understand the sequence.

WHAT WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR PRODUCT?

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

Evaluation Question 2

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FROMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS

The genre associated with my opening sequence is crime drama. The use of a wide range of shots that are commonly seen in crime drama’s develops the conventions of the crime drama genre.

For example, low angle and over the shoulder shots to make a character seem weaker /more vulnerable or more important. Here are a few that are seen in my opening sequence of 'Score'.

 

The clothing of the characters develops the costume convention in a crime drama as it is basic and dull, drawing the audiences attention to the story itself and camerawork throughout.

At first, I did challenge the general types of soundtracks heard in a crime drama as 'This Modern Love' was my original song choice consisting of an upbeat and fast-paced rhythm. However, I decided to not take a risk and from feedback I decided to use the soundtrack from 'This Is England.'

I used another convention of an opening sequence by showing something from the past with the build up and eventual death of Maxwell. This helped set a tone and perhaps foreshadows future events to the audience as Alex is seen walking somewhere right from the start.

SHOT LIST

FIELD EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST

CAMERA SET-UP DIAGRAMS

Wide Establishing shot of Alex walking to meet Danny (Arthur)

Low angle shot of Maxwell falling to his death (emphasises the state he is in)

High angle OTS shot of Alex producing the drugs (gives a view of the amount of drugs being made)

COSTUME AND PROP LIST

Before I began the filming of my opening sequence I managed to acquire various bits of equipment from the chemistry department at my school. This included beakers, syringes, flasks, test tubes and a bunsen burner. I also used a pocket-size coin bag to conceal the drugs when the drug deal takes place.

If I was going to replicate drugs being made I needed equipment that would most likely be used in genuine drug production. I researched and from my knowledge of 'Breaking Bad' and films involving drugs I had what was required to make the shots look as realistic as possible.

I didn't have to do anything special with the costume side of my project as in crime drama's, characters wear fairly casual and basic clothing. You can see the clothes that were worn by the characters above and the lack of vibrance or style to their choice, relating to this common convention in crime drama's.

The darker colours complement the mood in 'Score' and I wanted to make sure there were no colour contrasts seen throughout the production. Arthur (Left) is wearing a 'snapback' that is often seen in youth culture and can be largely seen in the hip-hop industry. He is also wearing a black backpack that may suggest to the audience that he is hiding something.

SCORE- CONSTRUCTION

PRODUCTION

Before I started filming 'Score' I did various bits of planning, I started with finding a location to film in. I had heard that a young filmmaker camp in my area was taking place during one of my school holidays.

I conferred with them and asked if I could possibly use their facilities to film my AS media studies project and if I could use some of their equipment and they were more than happy for me to do so.

I filmed the drug production and drug deal scenes throughout the course of the week also gaining valuable experience in how to use some fantastic equipment including a slider and a camera crane.

Following these scenes, I decided to shoot at my school in a fairly isolated area where I knew there would be no people around to disrupt the filming.

Luckily, the weather was perfect for the day I planned to shoot these scenes. It was overcast and gloomy enough to emphasise the mood I envisioned in my product.

I decided to shoot in 3 three different locations in order to offer something else to viewers and provide a few plots to keep them guessing and to complement my piece with different environments.

Furthermore, the three characters all feature in three separate locations making it easier for my audience to follow the story and focus on one character at a time (apart from the drug deal at the end).

EDITING STAGE

In the editing stages of my project, I started by formulating what I believed were my best shots and put these in a separate folder on my desktop. I tried to follow my storyboard and original ideas as much as possible and I believe I did this to good effect.

Here you can see some of my editing on Final Cut Pro. I had to find suitable font to which I would add to a particular scene and also put the clips in the correct order in correspondence with the original story. I chose to remove the white background in the title (seen above) after much consideration and playing around with other fonts as well.

In the early stages of editing I attempted to decrease the pitch of 'This Modern Love', a rough and draft soundtrack idea for my project.

The song was a bit too upbeat and so I attempted to make it more relevant to my product with a moodier and perhaps darker pitch. however, with more research I eventually found the right soundtrack for my opening sequence that I didn't have to edit (Below).

RESOLVING ISSUES

The biggest issue I had during the filming of 'Score' was the smoke setting off the smoke alarm and this ultimately disrupted my filming. The kitchen was small and so the room filled with enough smoke to set the alarm off quite quickly.

I had to stop recording, find out how to disperse the smoke out of the room and hopefully the alarm would turn off. It did thankfully and I was able to continue recording with some quality shots already at my disposal.

Another issue I had was at the early stages of filming where my storyline was different. Harry (above) was also smiling which I hadn't noticed when taking the original shots.

The character seen above was just going to be seen in a sudden flashback but I felt I needed to add a sub-story and so I approached my other peer, Maxwell, about playing a slightly different role and in a more serious manner.

RUSHES

The shot above is the pre-edited version and I felt that this shot had too much colour and vibrance for a scene that I felt needed to display a darker and grimier mood.

Another reason I decided to use the 'Numerik' effect on Final Cut Pro was that the bright yellow and orange liquids seen would look unrealistic and effectively out of place to viewers if in their natural state.

This shot is seen towards the end of 'Score' in the drug deal. This scene definitely needed a darker effect on it as a drug deal is thought upon to be a wrong part of today's society and is ultimately illegal.

The dark effect emphasises the vulnerability and mood of the characters from the original use of the crane. This shot with the high angle colour may also foreshadow future trouble and conflict.

AUDIENCE PROFILE

'Score' is a Crime Drama film focusing on the troubles that teenagers can face in society and the serious consequences of being involved in drug culture. My primary audience would be fairly youthful males from teenagers and a secondary audience of young adults and those older who follow and enjoy modern day British Film.

Crime Drama's attract these audiences because they are something that people can relate to, everyday life and realistic story-lines and plot to follow. British crime drama's are mainly viewed by males as females tend to prefer more feminine films and genre's like Comedy and Romance.

Here is an example of the type of audience who would view my Film:

CASTING PHOTOGRAPHS AND JUSTIFICATIONS

Maxwell Fox (Left) will be playing himself in my opening sequence. Although, He will act as a drugged character who dies from an overdose. I chose him to play this part as he was one of my peers who was very enthusiastic about performing the role, he knows what the role entails and it was not a hard decision for me to make.

I was clear with how I wanted him to portray himself and he likes my ideas along with the variety of camera shots I intend on implementing in the scenes he is in.

Arthur Bean (Right) will be playing the role of 'Danny' who is the character buying the drugs and a fellow friend of Alex (the main character).

I chose him as he is also enthusiastic and is willing to travel to location I want to film at. He has serious facial expressions and this will emphasise the darker mood I envision for my media product.

FILMING EQUIPMENT USED IN 'SCORE'

                                                                                   The pictures above display a Tripod and a Slider. The tripod allowed me to stabilise camera shots and remove any handheld shakes when I required. Some of the shots I filmed using the tripod are not seen in my final product as I thought that too many of them would have taken away from the low-budget I envisioned.

The slider was used in the drug production scenes and helped to display a slow pan across what I am making and the materials and objects I needed to make drugs.

The camera I was very fortunate to use was a Nikon D3000 and I was also lucky to be able use a crane that is seen in use at the end of my Opening Sequence. The camera allowed me to film in great quality, with various lighting and out of focus shots taken for deliberate effect.

The crane allowed me to add another angle to my filming of 'Score' and the shot seen in the drug deal of 'Score' emphasises the vulnerability of both of characters and offers something new to my audience.

The final parts of equipment that I used were a SanDisk 32GB memory card and a smoke machine. The memory card allowed me to keep all of my footage on one device to ensure I was well organised and efficient when editing the opening sequence.

The smoke machine added verisimilitude to my product and as I wouldn't actually be cooking the 'drugs' I wanted to make it look like I was and the smoke made it look more realistic. I was fortunate to have this device at my disposal and I believe it effectively added to my the shots I filmed in the kitchen.

RESEARCH SHOTS OF LOCATIONS

Kitson Hall (seen in the pictures above) was the first location I shot in and directed in. The kitchen seen in the picture below was ideal for the vision I had of my product in the planning stages. The kitchen is fairly basic and this fits into the idea of drug production, i.e. you wouldn't see drugs being made in a luxury facility.

This next location is behind my school grounds. I thought that it was another ideal location to shoot a crime drama. It was easy to access, a low budget location and I had nothing to stop me from filming there (e.g. weather or special permission).

The last location that features in my project is Barnes Cemetery and there was a nice spot that emphasised the atmosphere commonly seen in drug deals. The spot helped make the scene seem more grimy and tense as Danny (the drug customer) is walking to meet Alex.

SOUNDTRACK CHOICE

The first soundtrack I considered for my opening sequence is called 'So Here We Are' by Bloc Party and it is an instrumental version. I felt that my opening sequence required a soundtrack with no lyrics to emphasise the mood I envisioned for my product.

However, this soundtrack was a bit too upbeat and did not work as well as the soundtracks below following the opinions of my peers and myself included.



This second soundtrack is by the same band as above but is less upbeat, with a lower pitch and a faster beat throughout.

Further feedback demonstrated that it would complement my product but that I could still find a better alternative, I agreed and through more research I found the fitting soundtrack, finally.



This is the soundtrack from my first and major inspiration 'This Is England' and I felt it was perfect for my media product. It is emotional yet it suited the dark mood displayed at times in my sequence.

I received only positive comments from viewers about the soundtrack and although it took me a while to decide it, I am glad I took this time to make an informative decision. I knew the soundtrack would be a decisive part of my product and I hope those who read this agree with my choice.

FONT ANALYSIS

This first font was one option that I didn't choose as I thought the letters weren't bold enough or most relevant to a drug-related film. The font doesn't seem to be intimidating unlike the fonts seen below.

This font is a chalk-design and is much bolder than the fonts above and below. However, I felt it was too intimidating and that it may draw viewers too far way from the production itself.

This was the font that I chose for my final production and is called a serif font. It is not too bold but bold enough to look realistic in a crime drama production. Feedback from my peers also emphasised  that this was the best font for me to use.