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.