Sony A1E

The Sony A1E is the camera we will be using to film our trailer. It is a small handheld camera which is ideal for us media students to be using. It is quite compact and with the touch screen all the menu options you can find through that.

Controls

There is a zoom button with you slide left to right to either zoom in or out. As we will be using this frequently it is helpful that it slides so that we can get smooth movement in our filming. The record button is placed where your thumb falls so it is easy for us for when we are using the camera handheld.  There is also the option of changing it into night mode, which would be a good effect for any scenes that we are filming in the dark.

Settings

To get to the settings you have to use the LCD touch screen. One of the options we will be changing most often is white balance. As our locations change from inside to outside, and there will also be times where there is more shade than other scenes, we will have to keep checking on the white balance to make sure the colours are right. We also need to adjust the exposure settings so that we don’t over or under expose our shots and ruin our filming.

When using this camera we will attach a microphone to the top of so that we record the sounds at the same time as recording. When we are using this in our recording we will have record each shot several times so that we can pick which shot worked best.

http://www.dvuser.co.uk/content.php?CID=34

http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/product/hdvcamcorders/hvr-a1e/overview

Use of new media

This is group work that we did in class. We brainstormed different ideas on how we can use new media in our research to find out how people feel about films and to our specific genre. We came up with the idea of getting people to watch trailers of a horror film and recording their reactions and analysing this. Also using our phones to text links to our friends, or some people with Blackberry's can 'BBM' their friends, and those with iPhone's can use 'Pingchat'

Adulthood - Audience Ratings

Votes Average Males  3,373  6.7 Females  312  6.6 Aged under 18  65  7.7 Males under 18  52  7.6 Females under 18  13  8.2 Aged 18-29  2,630  7.0 Males Aged 18-29  2,391  7.0 Females Aged 18-29  235  6.7 Aged 30-44  827  6.2 Males Aged 30-44  779  6.2 Females Aged 30-44  48  6.2 Aged 45+  152  5.7 Males Aged 45+  135  5.6 Females Aged 45+  16  6.4
This shows me that this film has a wide range audience, but the audience ratings get higher as the age gets lower. There isn’t much difference between the ratings of females and males, showing that there isn’t much of a gender bias as it attracts both genders. This is helpful to me as my first thoughts for this film genre were that it would appeal to more boys than girls, even though I like the genre of film myself.

Further research - Adulthood film poster analysis

This film is a sequel to the previous film ‘Kidulthood’. The layout for the film poster is very similar to Kidulthood, and i think they have kept similar to make the film recognisable to fans of the previous film.  All the actors are dressed in tracksuits, which is what they all mainly wear during the film as it shows the viewers the type of characters they are. There is a bat also lying on the floor next to the main character, where as in the other film poster, the main character is holding it in his hands as if he is about to swing it.  The main character is standing in front, and each character is posing in different stances and levels, showing the status of each character. With the main character standing up in front of the rest you can tell that he has the highest status in the film. They are all stood on a roof top, where the skyline behind shows an orange sky, which is different to the Kidulthood poster as it is a lot darker.

Not far above their heads, the title of the film is written in a bold black font that stands out from the orange sky. In a smaller font to the top left of the title, the tagline is written ‘after Kidulthood comes…’. This is like the tagline used for Kidult hood where that one says ‘before adulthood comes…’. Underneath they have put the producer’s name: Noel Clarke. This is good for viewers that are fans of his work as it will make them want to go see this film, or also those that know he produced Kidult hood. Above all of this they have put reviews and ratings in a big white font. This is a persuasion technique to try and sell the film even more by using good reviews.

Across the bottom, they have given a number for people to text to receive a free trailer of the film . This works for people that have seen a poster of the film out and about and are wondering what it’s about. If they can receive a free trailer then they can decide on whether they want to see the film, it also is more advertising because more people will have seen the trailer.

Further research - Adulthood trailer analysis

Adulthood is a sequel to the previous film Kidulthood. This trailer begins with a girl and a boy lying in bed. The girl is facing upwards with the camera above her, and she is talking with no music playing the background. You can’t see the boys face until she asks him a question and the camera moves over to show his face as he responds. It is the first shot of the main character of this film. It then fades out and the music begins with an establishing shot, where the production company logo comes up. The music is fast paced rap music which corresponding to the genre and style of the film. The first shot automatically shows violence so you can tell what type of film it is within the first 20 seconds. The way he talks as well also portrays the character with his use of slang ‘blood’.  The next series of shots are fast paced and have fading transitions between each. The camera does a freeze frame on the character holding a bat up with his hood up. The background is changed around him with text in the background saying ‘Six years locked up’. This text tells you what kind of character he is if he has been in prison for six years. There is then another series of fast paced shots and then another freeze frame with more text. The next series of shots aren’t as face paced as the previous ones but show the main characters of the film so each of them are introduced. It also shows you how they have changed from the previous film Kidulthood.

There is a shot where someone punches through a car window, and as that smashes the music drops and changes to a slower and softer soundtrack but still rap music so it sticks with the theme. The next text slides say ‘After Kidulthood  ... comes  ... Adulthood’ showing the link between the two films.

From this trailer you know that the genre is crime, violence and youth culture. It is easy to understand that from this trailer from the shots of fights, language used, shots of guns and the title cards used. Also the use of signals such as hoodies and dark colours also portray the crime and violence.

It is easy to understand the storyline from the title cards and the scenes showed. You can tell that the main character was in prison and now that he is out, people are seeking revenge on him for the crime he committed.

My Initial Idea

At the beginning of this assignment our group decided to choose horror as our genre as it had a low budget which made it easier for us to recreate. We then changed our ideas to a Social Realist Drama (youth culture/gang) genre. We decided to change to this because is involves our age group therefore we can relate to it and understand the media and society today. We are also able to understand more of the typical stories involved in this type of genre as we get involved in mild conditions of the story lines for example drinking, parties and also know of people involved in drugs and crime. This helps us to make our story more realistic and is easier for us to create and produce better results. 

Group Schedule

We have come up with a group schedule for the planning stage:


Me

- storyboard: 3rd November 2010
- shot list: 3rd November 2010
- possible cast list: 4th November 2010 
- finalised cast list: 5th November 2010
- font list: 8th November 2010
- script: 11th November 2010

Grace

- possible and finalised cast list: 5th November 2010
- possible locations: 5th November 2010
- risk assessment sheet: 5th November 2010
- shooting schedule: 10th November 2010
- mock up of film poster: 26th November 2010
- magazine font test: 30th November 2010
- gun convention: 30th November 2010
Sophie

- prop list: 3rd November 2010
- call sheet: 10th November 2010
- in charge of contacting Warwickshire police about filming with toy gun: 16th November 2010
Tim

- costume design: 5th November 2010

- anamatics and finalised music for trailer (cut and edited): 15th November 2010
- putting trailer structure together on final cut pro: 15th November 2010

Group

- film and magazine title: 21st October 2010
- possible cast: 21st October 2010
- costume ideas: 1st November 2010
- final cut pro: 9th November 2010
- storyboard structure and music
- script: 12th November 2010