I really enjoyed the workshop day as it was a new experience for everyone and everyone was really enthusiastic about the music video remake which made the experience a whole lot more enjoyable.
These are pictures from our rehearsals.
I played the role of the lead guitarist in this video and I was kind of uncomfortable at first because I personally am not used to being in front of the camera. However, as the days progressed it became a lot easier as everyone was so encouraging and by the main shoot day it was all okay. Jasmine and Tash, our performance directors, really pushed to get the best out of us and they helped us come out of our shell and be able to perform.
Our set was already pre-made for us with the word 'RIOT' everywhere, just like in the actual music video. We also had a monitor set up where Dom, our director, could watch the shots as they were being filmed and also watch it back to see what we needed to improve/fix.
Jack was our cameraman and he needed our help with cable bashing and also pushing the dolly around on the track. We all took turns to do it and it was definitely tiring work but it was also fun. It also gave me an opportunity to speak to Jack about his profession and how he got into what he's doing now. It was very interesting to hear about another persons career path and it was also quite inspiring.
Above are pictures showing the shoot day.
The best parts of it were definitely performing but also encouraging our peers whilst they were on stage doing their thing. It was amazing to see us come together and really boost each others confidence and help each overcome the fears related to performing and being in front of a camera. Our crew were also so lovely to us which made the whole experience worthwhile and also amazing.
Below is a behind the scenes video that was shot on our workshop day which showcases how much fun and also how much effort we all put into it.
I have learnt an array of different things whilst doing tasks 1,2,3 and 5.
Task 1: Audition Video
Above, is the audition video that Angela, Iggy and I filmed for the casting of our music video remake. This was a new and nerve-wrecking experience for me because I'm not used to being in front of the camera. We took a few takes of this and the first take I was really embarrassed and wasn't really giving it my all. However, Angela and Iggy really pushed me and encouraged me and I ended up actually enjoying myself. It also allowed us to get a feel for performing and also encouraged us to learn the lyrics.
Task 2: Learn and Practice Your Performance
The next task was to learn our specific roles and then practice them so that we knew what we were doing when it came to the shoot day.
We had scheduled rehearsal sessions after school from Monday through to Thursday to ensure that we were fully prepped for Friday. I learnt that warming up before every performance/practice session was vital as you can seriously pull a muscle/cause harm to yourself if your body isn't fully warmed up and ready to work.
The hardest part of the whole music video to practice and execute was definitely the massive knee slide that the lead guitarist does in the video. It took a while to learn and it was also quite painful when the attempts went wrong, but in the end I managed it with the help of Jasmine and Tash. There was also a bit in the music video where it was focused on the guitarist and his solo. This was also a difficult part to learn but overall, I think it all went pretty well.
Task 3: Help to Plan and Organise Your Costume
Finding costumes for everyone was definitely a challenge. We all had to bring in clothes that we thought were appropriate from home and had a massive session with everyone there where we picked out our costume from a whole pile of possibilities. However, we didn't always get it right the first time around. For example, I initially picked out a costume after liaising with the teachers which we thought would look quite good. However, this costume didn't really look 'rock chick' enough so we decided to change it. In the end, we found a better alternative to the costume before and it definitely looked a whole lot better.
Costume before - orange vest top, black
ribbed skirt and black tights with black
trainers.
Costumer after - Bright orange crop top,
black vest underneath, black leather skirt
and black tights.
Task 5: Editing
Editing was definitely the hardest part of this whole project. We used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit it and we used layering on multi-tracks to make it easier for us to sync the video to the music and also cut up the shots as needed. It was difficult trying to get shot for shot match on these but Angela and I definitely tried our best to match the original shot as close as possible. As you can see above, the shot in the bottom right hand corner is the original shot and the shot in the center is the one we filmed and cut in. They both match pretty well. Below is another shot where we were able to get a pretty good match. However, this wasn't possible for all shots and eventually we had to learn to be creative and accept that not every shot will match perfectly.
Editing was very time-consuming and laborious and at times it was hard to carry on but we pushed through and managed to finish it. I also learnt how to grade and correct shots to adjust the lighting, brightness and contrast in order to match the original shots more perfectly. This was a hard and enduring task but it was still a lot of fun and the satisfaction after fully grading one shot was very pleasant. Adding the flashes and high exposure shots was definitely challenging as well but it helped bring the video together and adding them definitely made the video look complete as well.
Overall, this whole project has been a huge learning experience for me and I found myself really enjoying and now missing this whole thing. I learnt how to perform, get over my camera shyness, encourage, how to grade and also how to persevere through tough situations.
I was actually pleasantly surprised when we viewed the footage after our shoot day. It was a lot better than I originally expected because during the day it's hard to tell whether or not all the shots have been covered and if we've got all the footage needed to create a decent music video.
Below is our finished music video remake:
Although our finished edit took a while to finish, I feel that it looks quite good and once we added all the grading, flashes and high exposure shots the video just came to life. I am so pleased with how it turned out but it was definitely a struggle to get there. It looks a lot better than I expected as well for sure. I didn't know at the start that this project would be as good as it was and the final outcome made it all worth it.
Angela and I spent quite a while trying to grade the shots according to the reference that we had from the original video but at times we couldn't get an exact match which was quite frustrating but it also gave us the opportunity to make creative decisions about what we should do with the shot to make it look good. This was quite a fun task as you watch a shot go from quite a flat, normal shot to something with life.
Here is an example of one of our flashes:
I feel like the way we cut the shots and the sync with the music worked really well as if you watch the original and then our take on the video it should look pretty similar and the words she's singing match pretty well with the song and the lyrics. The grading process, I feel, was also quite successful.
Here is an example of one of our graded shots of the guitarist:
Here's an example of another one of our flashes:
If we had the opportunity to do this again I would definitely film the shot where the lead guitarist kicks over the drum kit as it would've matched so well with the original video and also would've been a lot of fun to film.
Obviously, we didn't get the opportunity to do this as we were using the school's drum kit and also health and safety issues. I would've also liked a bit more time to edit so that we could've fine tuned certain shots to make it as close to the original as possible. Also, in the video they use the lights overhead to do some of the flashes and I feel if we had done that, it would've been a little bit easier on us and also looked a bit better.
However, having said that, I'm really proud and happy with our final outcome and feel like the time and effort we dedicated to this project really shows through.
I think this prelim experience will have a huge impact on my approach to next term's music video as I have learnt some invaluable lessons from completing this task
Here is what I have learnt and how it will impact next years project:
Timekeeping is very very crucial, especially on your shoot day. I learnt that you have to stick to a very tight schedule with all your shot and timings written down so that both the cast and crew know exactly when and where to be. It also ensures that things don't run behind so that we can get all the shots necessary in time and not rush towards the end and miss shots out.
We also had a call sheet which was also important so that we knew what time we had to be in and what time each rotation started.
I didn't realise just how much time, effort and dedication this project requires especially since we have to do it all ourselves next year. This prelim task really prepares you for this and you know how efficient and organised you have to be next year in order to produce a good music video.
Sticking to your edit schedule and getting as much of it done early on really helps because then you have more time to add creative touches to your shots and it also means you're not rushing towards the end
Being organised and punctual is essential. If we're unorganised then it will have huge, negative impacts on our project.
This prelim task has also made me appreciate all the hard work that our teachers and crew members put in to make this task a success for us.
Here is a time-lapse video of our shoot day which showcases just how much work is required to make a project successful:
Our character Guy getting ready for his first date
Our Film's Plot The Life Of Guy is a rom-com film which follows the life of a university student called Guy. The film is set in a flashback as the character looks back at how he used to be and reflects on how much his life has changed. It starts of with him looking back at his first date fail and then the heartbreak that followed which led to him sitting in his room 24 hours a day. He then meets a girl called Lindy who soon becomes his best friend. She guides him through life and teaches him how to get girls, how to be popular and how to interact with people in a normal manner. After a while of this we now come out of the flashback and see him walking down the corridor with his girlfriend!
Form - the typical features of an opening sequence
Our opening sequence both conforms and challenges typical features of an opening sequence. Here is how:
Here is the full move of John Tucker Must Die. However, the opening sequence lasts until 3:40. If you watch up to there you can see the features.
Titles:
For titles our main inspiration again was John Tucker Must Die. They used a simple white font which faded in and out and most of them were overlayed. Similarly, in our film opening we used a simple white font which faded in and out and most of them were overlayed as well.
John Tucker Must Die Titles
The Life Of Guy titles.
Challenges to common stereotype:
In our film opening the title of our film, The Life of Guy, appears at the end of the opening sequence rather than the the front. This is breaking the typical form of an opening sequence as majority of films introduce their film with its title right at the front.
Genre - Romantic Comedy
Challenges to common stereotypes:
In romantic comedy's the main character who needs to be helped and ideally 'saved' is usually female but in our film we decided to make him male.
The reason we did this is to challenge another stereotype that rom-com's are mainly targeted at females. We wanted our film to have equal appeal to both male and female characters and so we decided that our main character would be male.
Narrative Structure:
Most films follow Todorov's classic narrative pattern of equilibrium, disruption, resolution and new equilibrium. In the diagram below I show you how my film and another film called 22 Jump Street follows this theory:
Todorov's Theory 22 Jump Street The Life Of Guy
Specific Narrative Techniques that we used:
Flashback - our whole opening is a flashback which is shown through our voiceover as Guy is looking back on himself and reflecting back at what his life used to be like.
Narrative Ellipsis - we cut out certain unneeded scenes such as him walking back to his room from the bathroom in order to speed up the action and the audience can fill in the gap themselves.
Enigma Code - What will happen to Guy after? How will he handle the break up? Will his life ever change?
Cross Cutting - We used cross cutting to show Guy running down the street and then cut to Bella waiting outside the take away place for him and then back to him running.
Style: Lighting/Colour We wanted to create all the shots with high key, warm tone lighting as this is a typical genre convention of many rom-com films such as Legally Blode.
Legally Blonde Lighting
Legally Blonde Lighting
Legally Blonde Lighting
In order to get the intended colours that we wanted on our film we had to use the grading technique on Adobe Premiere Pro which allowed us to change the lighting to suit our needs. However, since we filmed using spotlights and natural lighting, not much grading was needed.
Here, I have shown some scenes from the film Legally Blonde where they use high key, warm toned lighting similar to the ones we used in our opening sequence.
Soundtrack and dialogue
Many films of the rom-com genre use really happy upbeat music for their opening sequence as this sets the atmosphere for the rest of the film as although there may be serious underlying themes, the lighthearted take on it will make it quite entertaining and happy. We used a soundtrack called 'Life of Riley' as this fit in with our genre and set quite a happy tone for the film. Here is the soundtrack that we used:
The sountrack for a similar film called 'The Other Woman' is quite similar with quite an old song being used to describe a baby with words like 'beautiful' and 'happy'. Our soundtrack however, does not include vocals.
For the dialogue in opening sequences, most films have either a voiceover, dialogue or just the music with quiet action on screen. However, our film challenges that stereotype as we have mixed voiceover and dialogue together. We feel that for our film this works best as it is a flashback sequence as he remembers who he used to be. A real film which also challenges this stereotype is 'John Tucker Must Die' as the opening sequence consists of both voiceover and dialogue as she is having a flashback as well near the beginning of the film.
The main social group that we are trying to represent is the male gaming geeks/misfits who are socially awkward and do not fit into our perception of 'normal'.
Some typical representations of geeks/misfits in the media:
They tend to have a really bad fashion sense
Usually really into games and anything that stimulates an intellectual response
They aren't usually any good with girls
They are usually portrayed as a comedy character put there to make the audience laugh
Examples in real media for 1:
Will from The Inbetweeners 2 movie. Analysis of his costume.
Examples in our film:
Examples in real media for 2:
In the video above, an extract from Big Bang Theory, we see Sheldon Cooper invent a highly complicated game called 'Three Person Chess'. Not only is he an intense gamer who loves playing games he also goes as far as inventing his own game. This shows how smart he is and in a way is a positive representation of geeks as they have outstanding intellectual ability.
Examples in our film:
We can see the stacks of games next to his TV which implies that he plays games on a regular basis
There are many gaming posters on the wall which signifies his character and his hobbies, ie gaming
He has headphones on and looks proper concentrated (on the other shot) which suggests he's quite an intense gamer
We filmed this shot over his shoulder intentionally so that you could see all the posters, the games and him physically playing the game. This hopefully helps the audience figure out what kind of character he is.
Examples in real media for 3:
In this clip we see Amy be mad at Sheldon for not paying her any attention during their excursion on Valentine's day. To this Sheldon responds with a very awkward kiss. Even the audience feels awkward watching it.
Examples in our film:
In this scene we see Guy approach Bella and outstretch his hands for a handshake which people don't usually do anymore. People are usually greeted with hugs. He then says 'Oh I thought we'd get a take out'. This is his first date and he wants to get a take out! That's not usually what is considered a social norm for a first date. The guy usually organises a really nice date somewhere nice like a restaurant or do an activity together like watching a film. This tells us that he has minimal experience with girls and doesn't know how to behave around them. We deliberately made him like this so that the audience can feel sympathy towards Guy by the end of the opening sequence and see just how socially awkward he is.
Examples in real media of 4:
In this scene we see Will (the guy in the checkered shirt) dance really awkwardly around the girls whilst trying to copy the guy who can actually dance. This makes the audience laugh as it's a funny moment and the audience can see what a fool he is making of himself.
Examples in our film:
There are many comedic aspects to our geeky character Guy as even in the beginning of the film the rolls and falls out of bed instead of getting up like a normal person. He also turns on his shower too cold, mentions supergluing his hands together, picks the most ugliest outfit, turns up late to his first ever date and then offers to get a takeaway for them both. This will hopefully make the audience laugh as we have intentionally placed these shots in our opening sequence. It will help the audience identify with the character.
The distributor for our film is 20th Century Fox and the production company is RC Productions, short for Rom-com Productions.
20th Century Fox is an American film studio, which is horizontally and vertically integrated, distributor and one of the six major Hollywood studios. It is located in Los Angeles, just west of Beverly Hills. It has produced and distributed some majorly successful films like Avatar, Titanic and Die Hard.
Here is a case study of our distributor and films that they have distributed of the same genre:
We chose 20th Century Fox as our distribution company as they have also distributed a number of successful rom-com's as shown in the Prezi above. A particular film we drew inspiration from was 'John Tucker Must Die' and we looked at their distribution and decided we wanted to use the same company. Also, using 20th Century Fox will ensure that our product is appropriately placed and will reach our target audience.
Our release plan:
There will be a UK premiere at London's Leicester Square as it is a British production company
There will also be a USA Premiere in Los Angeles as this film is being released globally and this will create a buzz just before the release
Initial release will be in the summer around the end of July in the UK and USA as many people will be off on their summer holidays so there is an increased chance of them coming to see the film
Then it will be a staggered release across the globe
There will also be a DVD and Blu-Ray release once the film has been released in the last country
Our Production Company
We drew inspiration from a film called 'What's your number?' as they used 20th Century Fox as their distributor but a smaller company for their production. Similarly, we used 20th Century Fox as our distributor and RC Productions for our production.
The core target audience for our film was fans of rom-com films as this was our genre and we felt that we could appeal directly to this main target audience using our genre.
Our secondary target audience was teenagers and young adults from both genders aged between 15-24 as the narrative of the film is something a lot of young people can relate to and also it is set in a university campus.
Our tertiary audience would be British people as the film is set completely in Britain and has a fully British cast and production members.
This graph shows that in the majority of years the main cinema-goers are always 15-24 year olds so we have a mass audience to target. Stats taken from Statista
We have tried to attract each different target audience in a very specific way and we have specifically made some decisions in order to directly target each group. Universally, I think our film style and the continuity editing would appeal to our audience as a whole as it creates a sense of realism and some people can even relate it. Here's how we targeted each group specifically:
How we used the uses and gratification theory to attract/address our audience:
Audience Feedback
I set up an online survey using SurveyMonkey to get our audience feedback and see what they thought of the overall opening sequence. I put the link up on my personal Facebook page and asked everyone to take part in the survey with a link to my opening sequence as well. Here are the results:
The first question was about age. This was to see who was actually interested enough by my opening sequence to actually open the survey and fill it out. As you can see there was a range of ages but the majority of them were under 18 (mainly 16/17) or 18-24 .
The question after was about gender, again to determine who had actually taken part in the survey. Majority were female but if you look at the percentages it was pretty close so the male audience did like the opening sequence enough to fill out a survey about it.
This question is asking the audience to rate the film out of 10. None of the scores went below 5 which I think is really good. It seems like the audience really enjoyed it.
I have only included a range of answers here but a lot of the audience liked the acting, the editing and the narrative. This is really pleasing as Mario and Aybala both worked really hard on their acting and me and Angela also worked hard on directing them in order to get our desired effect.
Majority of these answers are referring to the voiceover as to what they disliked. When I spoke to some people about my opening sequence this was something they mentioned as well. One of my acquaintances told me that it was quite 'annoying' to have a voiceover and dialogue throughout as it detracted from the action and the comedic value of the shots.
This response really pleased me as 100% of everyone who answered this survey said they would want to carry on watching the film!
