The Evaluation - Question 7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do feel you have learnt in the progression of it to your final product?

Prelim - In this screenshot, Ellen had stopped walking before the camera had stopped recording. This counts as a continuity error because before the next shot you can already see she has stopped walking.

Final - In this screen shot we prevented the previous error happening again by first timing the stopping of recording better and secondly by adding a 'Cross Dissolve' effect to disguise any milliseconds where I had in-fact stopped.

Prelim - In this screenshot it is not clear that this is a high angle shot because as you can see the camera isn't angled enough, also, we didn't have a tripod and so the shot is shaky. Also we did not have a microphone however this did not matter as we were in a four walled room.

Final - In this screenshot the high angle shot is much clearer and the other character is present in the shot making it easier to understand who is where in the shot and also simpler to follow the narrative. When filming we again did not have a microphone only the built in one on the camcorder. This did not occur to us to consider as our sound came out so well in the Prelim task, we did not think how being outside would differ, until it came to editing.

There were many issues we encountered during our preliminary task such as the lack of cut-ins and cut-aways, if we would have used these I feel our task would have flowed much better as there were too many jump-cuts we found when we came to edit. Another issue we encountered when editing the prelim task was the fact we had only filmed all the shots once and from one angle, we later found out that it is more convenient to film things more than once from different angles even if it did go perfectly, to save having to re-shoot in the future. We also encountered the issue later on in the process of the angles not being clear enough as you can see in the photos above we however improved this when it came to filming the final product.In my personal opinion we improved a lot in the time we had. We managed to conquer issues such as jump-cuts by either timing better or disguising minor jumps with transitions. We also managed to add cut-ins and close ups to add to the effect and emphasise things like props and expression on characters faces to show the emotive depth being created. Finally we also managed to improve on the degree of our angles. High angle and low angle shots were clearly differentiated between throughout the sequence.I am extremely satisfied with the skills I have learnt throughout this project such as learning to use a camera with ease, and use editing software correctly and efficiently. My organisational skills certainly got better throughout the course of the project as I had to organise when everyone was free and when equipment was free to use and also fitting shooting times and production meeting around other lessons and plans. We were all so happy with the final product and really felt like our hard work had paid off. We did not expect to succeed in producing a task that we felt would be good enough but are certainly glad we did. I have walked away from this experience with a whole new knowledge of filming, editing, and producing of films.

The Evaluation - Question 6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt a number of tips, tricks and other useful information about different technologies during our time producing 'Bullet Heart' which I will take away from this experience.
We used the Canon HV40 digital camcorder to film all of our shots and also learnt about the importance of using a tripod to keep the camera steady as appose to shaky when handheld (which you can see in our Prelim Task.) Other aspects of camera work we learnt were obviously inserting and replacing the tape, hooking the camera up to the computer and also replaying recently shot scenes. Before studying media at A-Level I did not have any experience using editing software however I found Adobe Premiere Pro surprisingly simple to use. We was able to select the shots we wanted to cut, cut them and place them into chronological order. After a few cuts the sequence was coming together however there were a few jump-cuts throughout the sequence which we then disguised with the transition 'Cross Dissolve'. We then figured out how to add titles, a soundtrack and finishing effects to our sequence, this involved a lot of clicking and searching, before we finally caved in and asked for some enlightenment. Blogger played a massive part in recording our progress throughout the project. Never being a blogger in my life I thought that the task was going to be tricky at the least, fortunately I found it very easy, and also convenient as there was a "blogger app" which meant that I could blog from my phone where ever I was. YouTube was used as a place for us to distribute our film to classmates and store it for when it was needed during our blogs. I have used YouTube previously and so felt confident when using it in class. The only other technology used was PowerPoint which we used to present our pitch to other students and our lecturer Louise. Again having used this software previously since a very young age I was confident when it came to making and presenting the PowerPoint.


    

 

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The Evaluation - Question 5 How did you attract/address your audience?

We screened our opening sequence to the rest of the class (who initially fit our ideal audience member for the media product) then we interviewed one of them to get their personal opinion on our sequence. This was done though a video interview.




 

This screen shot from the opening sequence would be appealing to the audience as it is inviting, not only does it lure the male protagonist in, but also the audience as well.



This part of the sequence can also appeal to the target audience as it is the opening to the sequence it adds mystery and opens questions into the audience's mind as to why she is running, and constantly checking over her shoulder.






The final screenshot can appeal to the audience as it is the catalytic moment, which would have the audience members on the edge of their seat, gagging for what happens next. Also the film is set in a non-liner narrative  which is unaware to the audience at this moment in time.

The Evaluation - Question 4 Who would be the audience member for your media product?

The primary target audience for our crime opening 'Bullet Heart' would be people in the 16-24 age category. (Even though the film is a 12A we realise that the film would not appeal to people that young, the reason the age rating is not higher is because there aren't enough factors to increase it to a 15). Also this is the popular age range that frequently visit their local cinemas, which is where we would distribute our film. Our film would appeal mostly to this age range firstly because of the age of the actors within the film and secondly because as our findings showed, the youth of today prefers crime films with both a male protagonist and a femme fatale. We feel that the film would appeal equally to both male and female as both have an equal part to play within it. As our film is being independently distributed we would expect the majority of the target audience to be from small towns. Towns like that shown in the film. The minor part of our audience would watch films such as Kidulthood as the casting is more their age and topics are more relatable, they would watch television programmes such as the latest BBC Sherlock as it puts a modern twist on traditional crime films. The rest of the audience would enjoy films such as James Bond, but also older films such as Romeo Is Bleeding which is similar to our production. From a small scale survey we found that as well as chart music our target audience listens to old music such as The Beatles, The Who, The Smiths and Morrisey. 


Which is why I believe that these audience members would enjoy our film, as it is with a young cast but however with dated topics past their youth.


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The Evaluation - Question 3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The producer or production company is where the film get their funding and spending, their ideas for the script and the treatment and the organisation of the cast, crew and location: this is called "above the line sales." A production may directly fundraise the product but may also be funded through a partner or private investor. As we were our own production company 'A Broken Heel' we had the luxury of deciding most of these factors. We would have more than likely depended on funding from elsewhere as we would not have been able to fund the film ourselves.


A distributor ensures the film makes it to the cinemas/box offices on the day of their release (which is highly crucial and a very important job) and they are also responsible for getting the film to DVD. They take a cut of the takings from each film and this is how they make their money. The growing problem distributors face is illegal downloads of films. Illegal downloads don't just mean than cinemas lose out on money, the distributor will also because there will not be as much takings and so they get lesser cut. We decided to distribute through an independent studio as we do not have the money for funding. Independent studios rely on funding from other major companies. We did not want to use YouTube as a distributor as it is non profit and iTunes doesn't offer instant distribution as there is an application process and if you are not part of a major label you have to pay or list your product as 'Free'.


Romeo Is Bleeding and The Last Seduction are both films that are similar to ours as firstly they are both Neo-Noirs. In Romeo Is Bleeding the Femme Fetale has full control over the male protagonist as does our Scarlett, and in The Last Seduction, Bridget the Femme Fetale, comes away victorious because of the male protagonist being tricked by Bridget into taking full responsibility for her actions which resolves in him getting the electric chair. This film is similar to ours as it add a twist to existing conventions. 


Money to fund our film would come from a major company such as Universal as we are an independent studio who relys on funding from large companies. This is like the indie production company Working Title Films, they used to rely on PolyGram for backing. Polygram is now part of Universal Studios another major studio.


The people mentioned in our titles are the actors and the crew.
Jae Jones - Garret, male lead role.
Patsy Cliffe -  Scarlet, female lead role.
Hollie Owens (me) - Sound
Ellen Jones, Lauren Williams, Hollie Owens - Camera
Lauren Williams - Director

Although not mentioned in the titles I also helped with other aspects of creating the opening sequence: such as costume and design and also camera work and cinematography.

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The Evaluation - Question 2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social group our media product represented was women. We represented women first by portraying Scarlett as the vulnerable female ("the damsel in distress") being chased by the male, as this is what usually happens in films, an example of this would be from the film "The Silence of The Lambs" shown at the beginning of the movie. However the tables are turned as she subverts to the usual stereotype by becoming more dominant and in a figure of speech "wearing the trousers". We showed the tables were turned by putting her at the top of the steps and using high and low angle shots to show her authority, again we can see a similar situation in other films such as the 1944 Noir Film "Double Indemnity."

     

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The Evaluation - Question 1 In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Title

The title to our opening sequence "Bullet Heart" Was not our first choice. Originally we wanted to name our film "Scarlett" (after the female protagonist), however we decided that we needed to revamp the title so it was enticing to the audience. The concept behind "Bullet Heart" was first of all obviously the shooting, and secondly that the audience should get the impression that there was/is a romantic relationship between the two leads "Garrett" and "Scarlett". We wanted this to be shown through the body language and also the emotive language through the sequence.

Title - font & style

The titles for the film are serif font and conventional colours of black and white. We felt the serif font gave a more traditional and serious look rather than having a sans serif font which would almost make the film seem friendly.




For the location and setting we enhanced on the idea of a "back alley confrontation" into a back alley murder. We felt it was best to keep it all happening within the alleyway as it was the main and best location we could find that could help us represent the "demi monde" which translates from french to "half the world" which basically means the dark, shadow end of town, the bad side, the "stop before hell." We knew an alleyway would be great to portray this.

Alleyway (POV) top of stairs

Also When looking for the location to film in I noticed that there was metal fencing, which consisted of long straight poles. At that point we decided then that this would be the perfect location as the long straight lines showed imprisonment, meaning that the characters are trapped and there is no way they can get out of this.

We used the alleyway to the right
of the Church

     

Derelict street
(path to the "demi monde")

When deciding on the costume we all knew we wanted to use previous conventions as well as challenge them.  A glamourous developed look was used for the Femme Fatale, we did look at previous femme fetales from classic noir to see their costume, but we realised they seemed too innocent for what we were trying to achieve. we gave her a business-y look with hints of red which has connotations of danger.When deciding on costume for our detective Garrett we used the dual conventions such as long trench coat and shirt but decided to then challenge these usual conventions by adding footwear such as Converse and a skinny tie to convey he was a younger detective which also challenges the conventions. 

Female (first idea)

Male (first idea)

The props we used were very conventional of the crime genre. Props such as the gun and a cigarette are used across the majority of the films within this genre so we decided not to challenge them but rather use them as a feature in our opening sequence.

Throughout the filming process the idea of lighting did not really occur to us because we all thought natural lighting would be more suitable as we were not producing a Film Noir, therefore no shadowing effects were needed. (and we were filming outside so there was no where to plug the mains!) However when we got to the editing studio we realised that the sequence looked a bit... bleak. So we decided to try out different lighting effects. The one we all finally agreed on was 'Creamy Dreamy'. The overall effect of this lighting was to establish the dark emotion within the characters and to assist with also establishing genre.






When creating the characters we had to consider the audience perspective. We knew as a group how we should see the characters, but the audience did not. We tried to convey Garrett as much as we could to a good 'chilled out' kind of guy this is why, when standing at the bottom of the steps even though Scarlet is pointing a gun at him, he still stands with his hands in his pockets unshaken by what is happening. We wanted Scarlett to come across as a classy and seductive lady hence the red lipstick and heels, also in the close up shot on the corner she appears to be moving her finger in a 'come here' manner because she knows she looks good and that he will follow.
In the chase sequence the audience are led to believe that Scarlett is the "weak, helpless, conventional" female character, and that Garrett is the heroic, strong, courageous" male character. However when the sequence develops we can see that the roles have been flipped to show that Scarlett is the stronger character to Garrett who is helpless by this point. This in unconventional for film noir, however that does not mean it hasn't been seen before: and example would be from the Neo Noir film "Romeo is Bleeding." The femme fetale - Mona Demarkov has full power over the male protagonist Jack Grimaldi in the scene where she is pointing a gun towards him from a slight low angled camera shot.




    






The majority of the obvious camera angles take place in the alleyway scene. We decided that the shots when character Scarlett was talking should be an over the shoulder shot so that Garrett's reaction was obvious to the audience this could be done by using "shot reverse shot". We also decided that, because of Scarlett's dominance, shots from her point of view should be high angle. We then looked at shots from Garrett's point of view and decided the opposite should be in effect for him. His POV would be low angle because he is "helpless" so to speak. A cut in was used when Scarlett was removing the gun from her pocket to clearly show her action it was then followed by another high angle. The effect it gave was one we hoped to achieve: we wanted the audience to see that Scarlett continued to pull the gun out even though Garrett had asked why doesn't she put it down, and the fact Garrett was shown at a high angle straight after this shows that she is more dominate to the audience and that no one can stop her.


 

 


During editing we decided to use the transition 'Cross Dissolve' to help avoid jump cuts as we found some when looking through our footage and realised we had nothing to fill the gap. We also used this transition when going from a shot to more titles as we also felt the continuity was smoother. The only effect used was that of the gun shot. We felt the gun shot was more emphasised with this as apposed to just a 'BANG'. We also knew that this would have an effect on the audience as it made Lauren jump every time she watched the sequence (which was a lot considering all the editing we have to do.)


      


We tried to establish Genre through many conventions during our opening sequence. Two of the main ways we did this were through costume and props. Trench-coats and ties would generally only be associated with crime or detective genres, it's vary rare that you will see this kind of thing in a romance film as the romance genre has different conventions. Also a business-y type woman would not necessarily be seen pulling out a gun in the middle of a comedy film. Lighting was also another way we established genre as crime/detective films are usually dark and dingy and so this lighting suited  us perfectly. Finally another way we established the genre is through the voyeuristic gaze that is seen towards Scarlett. The camera is positioned in the alley scene at a low angle to show dominance, and that she has control over the male character. And also to the fact that we can see her legs, this is a sign that she is luring and lustful to the male gaze. The red belt and red lipstick used also enlighten the conventions as red you will see in most genres as being the colour of danger.


    


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BULLET HEART

So here it is... The moment you have all been waiting for... 

The opening sequence to what I have been blogging about for the past 4months... 

Bullet Heart!! 

Enjoy :) 

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