Martin Osborn's Media Blog

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge codes and conventions of real media products?
I believe that after studying the genre of film noir for the past year has lead me to be more aware of the stylistics and characteristics of the noir genre. particularly some of the film openings that we watched for films. They gave me an insight into how other media texts attract and keep the attention of audiences through giving them puzzles to solve called enigmas.
Our production group watched the 'Kill Bill' opening sequence. It only lasted just over a minuet, but from this we could see how simple it was to set the scene of action, Give the audience an enigma to solve throughout the film and build suspense in the film.
Also inspiring me was some of the classic noir films of Sunset Boulevard and DeTour. After watching these film i could see that some of the stylistics used in the soundtrack and editing could really keep the audiences interested in what is happening and feel like they are part of the action. Another genre of film but from the same era of film noir is 'Psycho'. Pictured below is the famous shower scene were the viewer can see a figure enter and approach the main character, but she cannot see. This part builds huge suspense for the viewer and makes them want to scream "look out behind you".

So I believe that my certain parts of my media product represent the two films mentioned above. As the audience you see the female character go and hide round the corner ready to shoot. But the male character doesn't know this as he walks up to his target. I believe that 'Psycho' inspired our group to want to give that feeling of suspense to the audience like the one in 'Psycho'.

Also 'Kill Bill' inspired our group to want to keep it short and simple. if we threw in massive amounts of clips, shoots music, sound effects etc. Then they would spoil the meaning of the noir. As classic noirs didn't make high budget films. they made low cost films where the narrative and suspense made you interested in them as a viewer.

Our group wanted to challenge most of the codes and conventions of classic noirs. Being in the target audience for our media product we had an understanding of what the audience may expect from a contemporary noir. We wanted a modern setting, one were most people in the target audience would be able to associate to. So we didn't want the film to look black and white like the classic noirs. Also the cloathes we wanted to bring up to date, but still make them have the feel of noir. so we used red for the femme-fatals jacket. and keep the other two male characters in black and white clothing. Our setting created a problem. Modern buildings tend to have a warm feeling to them, the way that light is used in them gives the setting a warm glow. So we looked into some editing techniques that would cool down the images. So that the image appeared modern but had that cool feeling to it.

Also the props used we wanted to signify good and evil. The male character's gun was black and the femme-fatals gun was grey. This was no accident we selected the two guns prior to filming to send an unconscious message of who is good and who is bad in the film.

2. Who would be the audience and how have you attracted/addressed this audience? And how does your media product represent particular social groups?

In the brief we were asked to produce a film with a certification aged at 15 years old. So we looked at the criteria of the BBFC 15 rating so that we would not make a film aimed at 15+ be an 18 certificate. We compiled a questionnaire and handed it out to 10 members of the public. And from their responses we could determine the age group and what sex would go to see a neo-noir. We found that both men and women were interested in a neo-noir thriller aged between 15-30. And we found that in the test screening of our media product that the audience liked the way that the actors looked to be early twenties, which the audience liked as they could associate themselves to as they didn't look to old.

Also our media products' theme and and narrative portrays the characters to fit class 'B' in the social economic grading system. As you you never find out if they are killing someone as a hit man or if its a personal vendetta, in which case the character may fit into a lower grade like 'C1 or C2'.

3. What kind of media institution may distribute your media product and why?

After looking into distribution companies and production companies i found that working title films may distribute our film as in the past their films have consisted of many basic films that have risky target audiences. But each year they have a big impact film that will bring in big revenue. but i also think that a big multi-national company like working titles will not want to risk its money on a very small independent production company like ours. Instead i believe that channel 4 films would be more likely to distribute my film. It has famously distributed 'Trainspotting' Which was a major global success. and is usually willing to fund a low-end budget film like ours. Also we would stand more chance with this distribution company than working titles as channel 4 films like their films to be 'British' which means British actors, British setting and British Production company. Hopefully channel four would screen our media product on their freeview channel 'Film Four'. And i think it would be eligible to play anytime after 8pm. mainly due to that's when the film will get the highest volume of the target audience.

4. What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of making this product?
While researching for ideas of noir I used a series of technologies to help aid me in my understanding. I used this blog to express my understanding of what I have learnt. While looking at some classic film noirs I manage to convert the DVD files to digital media and watch them on my iPod. This gave me time to watch and fully understand the convections and codes of different classic noirs. Also YouTube was very helpful in aiding me in discovering other film openings like ‘Kill Bill’ rather than going on the films I have in my collection openings; I was able to search a broader range of film openings and discover new genres that didn’t before appeal to me. And finally Wikipedia was helpful in aiding me in some other people views of the noir genre.

In the planning stage our group needed to keep close contact as each of us was workin on our own subject area. I was looking into editing techniques and researching on how the location will look while its being filmed. In order to make sure that i got the groups input and not just mine i had to regulary inform and speak to my group using MSN Messenger and Facebook to get their input on my idea and if it needs any further devlopment.

Also I used Adobe Photoshop to experiment with some of the typefaces that could be used in the final edit. Once the final edit had been created it had to be compressed down so that it would be able to be uploaded to the internet.

The final the technologies I used were in the production part of my coursework. The level of technology available to me was quite vast. But there was always someone that could tell me how a device worked or could solve my problem. The camera we used to shoot the piece was a Canon HV/DV this was a useful camera as the digital video tape made it easy to capture video onto the computer to edit. The computer that I used was a Mac Pro which made rendering and capturing video superfast and the video and sound quality really high. Whilst shooting we used a 600w key light to help make shadow silhouettes on the walls and making a characters face light and dark. To be able to dolly the camera with the footsteps we had to mount the camera on a skateboard and track the walking action. And where there is a character talking we used a pro microphone attached to a boom on the rifle setting to capture what was happening were the microphone was directed. Finally in the edit we had to put in a voiceover and heavy breathing into the video we did this with two devices a recorder from an iPhone, and then emailed the voice clip to my student email address. And the other was from a Creative Dictaphone that was able to plug into the USB slot and upload the video. The Canon’s DV function meant that the digital video could be extracted super-fast to the Mac using its FireWire port. The software used was called final cut pro which we used to edit our media piece together and is really user friendly and easy to use after a quick demonstration. Also I used Apples garage band to help me find the sound effects I needed to make the gunshot sound realistic. This again was very simple to find the sounds and an export them to a file type that can be use in final cut pro.

5. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that since completing the preliminary exercise and making this piece I have learnt so much from the simple amateur mistakes that I made. In the preliminary exercise I felt that all that I had to do was point a camera at some people exchanging dialogue. But whilst filming it I found out that it is much more than that. Shooting someone’s face isn’t as simple as pointing the camera at them. It’s all about how you the film maker want the audience to portray that person. Like a close-up may reveal more about that person than a mid shot etc. And when using shots like the mid shot where should you aim to have the character in the frame. Learning about thirds in a frame made me realise that the picture becomes more professional and interesting than having a big blank space above their head. Comparing my progress from the preliminary exercise to the final noir open I have developed my skills as a cinematographer and as an editor. Simple skills I learnt like going over and over the action with the actors made continuity a lot easier than it was in the exchange because it was easier to see the continuity, rather than putting in extra shots to show the ellipsis of time. Also reviewing the video after you have shot a scene with the group made sure that they were happy with how our final piece looked at it wasn’t just one persons input like the exchange was. And in my first edit I spent a lot of the editing time choosing was clips would cut well and match with the next. As time progressed and I started to work on the exchange I found it a lot easier and quicker to match up the continuity of changing shoots. And I was able to use the software to aid me in production rather than to work against me.

At first I found it hard to work as a group but from working together in the final piece I found that combining your ideas with others leads to better results in most cases. Because they further develop your idea to make it even better and more spectacular. And that why our group piece works so well is because everyone in our group felt that it was what they wanted the piece to look like and feel.
But the skill I believe that has developed the most is the skill of building tension for the audience so that they want to watch the media you are producing. Finding the right shoots to fit in with the music to make the music compliment the image on screen makes people enjoy your work and want to watch your media product. I found this in the exchange when people were “wowed” by what we had produced. In the preliminary exercise the video just looked like someone’s home video were you just point the camera at what is happening. But now looking at the final media product I feel that if it were feature length then it would be able to make it as a professional film. Because of the tension building skills I have learned.

Meeting 1 Tuesday 23rd February 2010 (Pre-Production)
Today we desided on what groups we were going to be in for our final media production. In our group is Seb Ashington, Emily Stansfield and myself (Martin Osborn).
We got straight down to business and came up with an enitial idea for our piece. We all liked the stylistics of the opening of KILL BILL and the cinematograhpy and editing looks very simple but effective and this is the look we want. Also I mentioned that i liked the neo-noir of Sin City and i would like to used the black and white with a filter on the red so that this will bleed through. so objects like jackets blood and red lazer dots can be clearly seen.

We have also decided our job roles:
Emily - Art Director/ Mise-en-scene

Seb - Cinematographer

Martin - Assistant Cinematographer, Sound

Meeting 2 Tuesday 9th March (Week of shoot)
We have decided that Martin will be take Sebs production ideas and be cinematographer as Seb will be a charater in the video. Also Martin's great editing skills from the exchange will hopeful make our final piece look professional so he will be assistant Editor alongside Seb.

Meeting 4 Tuesday 6th April (Editing)
We have now done all shooting. voive overs for the final pice and started to put together a rough edit. And the lighting in the video doesnt feel cold and grimy. So after speaking to our lecturer he gave us the idea to cool down the colours in the video. This is used in spooks to give the audience the feeling of dark and grimy.

Pre Production paperwork;
In order to be able to film we had to undergo pre-production paperwork. this covers health & safety side to filming our groups paperwork is listed below;