Son Of The Law Audience Feedback

Screening 
We screened our movie to an audience of both young people aged 16-18 and some older people, to get their feedback. As well as this, while screening our movie, we recorded them with the aim of seeing there reaction. After they watched our movie some of them filled out a questionnaire. The results of the screening and the questionnaire  can be found below:

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Son Of The Law (Main task)
Preliminary task

In the construction of my preliminary task my group, who consisted of Yusuf, Nile and I, used various forms of continuity editing. For example, we used parallel editing, which is crosscutting between scenes happening simultaneously but in different locations, to show the two characters having a phone conversation.

As well as this, we experimented with shot reverse shot to show the two characters having a conversation face to face. An over the shoulder shot was used in this instance. This was successful in view of the fact we didn’t break the 180 rule. 

Another form of continuity editing we used was match on action, which allowed us to give the impression of continuous time. This was executed well but I think the cuts on the match on actions should have been faster. 

We also attempted a dolly shot in my preliminary task to show the antagonist walking away. However, this didn't turn out as well as we would have liked due to the fact the when wheeling the dolly, which we had made using an office chair, my camera wasn't stationary therefore the shot was shaky which wasn't my intention.

In my main task my group, who consisted of Daniel, Nile and I did several things differently. For example, the location was both an exterior and interior (various locations) whereas in my preliminary task my entire movie was shot inside (one location). Therefore we encountered different problems for example; in my preliminary task the sound quality was good however in my main task the wind made my sound quality poor. 

setting of main task

setting of preliminary

Consequently, we had to add in several post-synchronised sound such as door slams, heart beating, breathing etc. As well as this, the sound also differed in view of the fact while, the entire sound of my preliminary was diegetic sound in the form of dialogue, in my main task we had a non diegetic soundtrack that was incorporated into my film to add suspense. Another way filming of my main task differed from the preliminary task was that my main task had an establishing shot that set the scene of the park.

The movies also differed because in my preliminary task we used a tripod for all the filming but in my main task in order to create a sense of realism we used handheld camera to create shaky cam. Shaky cam was also used to reflect the emotions that the protagonist was experiencing.

In contrast to my preliminary task, which had two characters, my main task only had one character was given prevalence to emphasise his importance. This allowed the audience to immediately acknowledge who the protagonist was so they could build a relationship with him from the beginning. Another camera technique employed in my main task was a tracking shot showing the protagonists feet as he ran. Another difference was in the main task a 360 shot was used to reflect the fact he was searching for a way out. Finally, the lighting of the final product of my two tasks differed. In my preliminary task all the light in the shot was from a natural source or inside lighting. However, in my main task, due to the fact we shot at various locations at different times of the day we deliberately used artificial lighting. As well as this artificial lighting was used to create low key lighting to build suspense.

However, the final product of the two tasks did share similarities. For example, I was able to apply the match on action technique I learnt during the construction of my preliminary task, in the construction of my main task.

The subtitles that the knowledge we learnt how to make during our preliminary task influenced  our decision to use subtitles as a reference to time in our main task.

What have I learnt?

Overall, the difference between the final product of my Main Task and Preliminary Task was evident for several reasons. Firstly, we only had a limited amount of time to film our Preliminary Task which meant that the filming and planning process of production was rushed. On the other hand, when filming our Main Task we had a longer time period to film. As well as this, unlike our preliminary task we collectively took into account the Mise En Scene of our film for example the location was carefully planned and the costume of our main character was also planned. This differed from our Preliminary Task where we could only film in school which meant our characters had to be in uniform which made our film less realistic. Furthermore, the final product of our main task was better because due to the longer time period to edit and film we were able to research sound, camera work and editing and opening titles. As a group, we learnt that in order to have an effective final product there must be consideration of Camera Work, Editing, Mise en Scene and Sound.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As revealed by the presentation, although they may be positives if our movie was distributed by Universal, I believe it would be more appropriate if our movie is distributed by a company like Momentum who specialise in distributing independent movies within the UK. Due to the fact our movie has an unknown British cast and lead and is set in London, with low setting costs choosing Momentum would be good as the movies they've distributed have had significantly lower budgets than Universal.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation of technology used

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The above data was concluded from data gathered during research. I learnt that the action movie genre had a demographic of males who seek adventure and escape hence why our movie targeted the psycho-graphic group of The Explorer and The Aspirer. When making our film we had to take into account the Psychographic group we appealed to hence why we added  a suspense building soundtrack and made the action start straight away immediately evoking our audiences attention.

How does your product represent particular social groups?

How does your product represent particular social groups?

Main protagonist is a young black person aged between 16-17 who is running away from something. The target market, who are also the same age, may relate to the situation as there is a popular view shared amongst young people that young people, particularly black, are stigmatised by the authority.

The main protagonist is wearing clothes stereotypical to young people; a hat, tracksuit and trainers. His age may represent his vulnerability. Vulnerability of young people emphasised by the point of view shot and shaky cam which reflects his panic. At the end of the scene when protagonist opens door he is shown in a high angle which implies that he is below in authority of the person and implies that young people have less power in society than older people. Due to the fact he opened the door oblivious to what was on the other side, without looking through the key whole or asking who is there, fully well knowing that he is being followed, the suggestion is that young people don't think things through. However, this view is subverted in view of the fact the protagonist was shown using a low angles in various parts of our movie, which represents his position of power and may reflect young peoples growing responsibility in society. Finally, the fact that the protagonist is the only character the audience sees during the opening scene the implication is that young people are becoming more independent.

screenshot from Attack The Block vs Our movie

Attack The Block was a British Sci-Fi action movie that was also set in London and featured a young black male lead. As you can see from the picture above, the characters attires are similar. The protagonists of our movie and Attack the block are also similar in view of the fact they are independent.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Below is a still from my movie with added analysis of Mis En Scene and Camera Work (In Black font). As well as this, I have explained how the choice of shot was influenced by Blumer and Katz' Uses and Gratification Theory (In Red Font with the definitions in Blue).

As revealed by the analysis of the still above, despite the genre of our movie being Action Thriller, we intentionally subverted from the traditional way that the genre is perceived by the media and alternatively adopted a realism approach, similar to the movie The Bourne Identity.

Finally, we attracted our audience by hosting a screening of our film which can be viewed here.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our movie was set in two locations. The exterior setting of the movie, which is set in a park subverts with stereotypical setting of action movies which are in big city areas. We chose a park to create an effect of urban realism which is a prominent aspect of our film. The second location was an interior.  It was a flat in an estate which was influenced by the film District 13 which also was had an estate setting.

The protagonist is wearing clothes stereotypical to young people from an urban city which makes the situation more realistic and appeals to the target market. As well as this, The boy is wearing all black which can be associated with bad and mystery which adds to the suspense as the audience isn't sure how to feel about him. The costume of the protagonist; tracksuit, hat, trainers and a hat, suggests he’s from an inner city area which is where most action movies are set.

Our movie subverts from the traditional conventions of the action genre in view of the fact, as opposed to being set in congested big city, as the majority of action movies are, the opening scene is set in a park. However, our movie does conform to the genre in view of the fact, the movie cuts straight into the action with the initial shot being the protagonist running. The audience is invited to immediately feel suspense.

The sound of my movie opened with symphony that built increased in pitch to create anxiety. This was preceded by fast paced music that got quicker in pace as the movie went long to reflect the building of suspense and to invite the audience to feel tension. This is stereotypical to the action genre which uses music parallel to the scene.

Point of view shots are used on several instances during the movie with the intention of drawing the audience into the protagonists’ world and to make the audience emphasise with the situation so they can experience the emotions that character is feeling which creates tension. As well as this, there is a close up of his feet to emphasise the fact he’s running. Tracking shot of feet invites the audience to follow the protagonist on his journey. Shaky Camera was used to create an effect of realism and reflect his emotions. This decision was inspired by other action movies, such as District 13 and Bourne identity which incorporated urban realism in their films. Fast cuts were also used to represent the pace to represent pace of movie.

The font is block capitals to add emphasis to the words. As well as this, the font is very simple so the audiences’ attention is not subverted from the action. This title for our movie was chosen because this shade of Blue represents knowledge, power, integrity which our protagonist seeks and will find by the end of the film. More importantly blue is the colour of the law which is therefore appropriate to our film.  Alternatively, the colour blue may be used to broaden your perspective in learning new information or to seek solitude and peace. The title is written in bold capitals, on an all black background, to draw attention and add emphasis to the name. However, it can be argued that our movie subverted from the tradition conventions of this genre in view of the fact when inserting our credits we chose to slowly cut black screen whilst the action was happening to leave the audience on a cliff hanger which will build tension as they anticipate what will happen next. This was inspired by the movie Mr and Mrs Smith which also cut to black screens to build tension.

 

We decided not to add any special effects in our movie because it may have conflicted with the realism that we attempted to portray.

When choosing the name of our protagonist we was inspired by the sci-fi action film The Matrix, which decided to give their characters names with subliminal means for example, Morpheus
In Greek mythology, is the God of dreams. In the movie, he is the leader of the rebel forces who fight to awaken humans from a dreamlike reality called The Matrix. As well as this, the main character Thomas Anderson name is Neo which is an anagram for One, In the bible Thomas denied Jesus so the implication is that Thomas Anderson is in denial that he is the one. In our movie Son Of The Law, our main character is called Ryan Lawson. We chose the because Ryan means king and Lawson is a pun for son of Law so the implication is that as the rightful king he is going to liberate the law.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Preliminary Task Final Video


Evaluation

This is the final video for my group’s preliminary task. In the construction of our film we focused on demonstrating our film techniques, including match-on-action, over the shoulder shot, 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot. I believe that my group consisting of Yusuf, who acted and made the floor plans, Nile who was in charge on set design and editing, and me the camera man, we able to execute our task well as we delegated tasks well and produced a good end product. We used match-on-action, a continuity editing technique, to show our characters moving and make our film easily interpretable to the audience. As well as this, we also used an Over the shoulder shot and shot reverse shot when showing dialogue between the two characters. This was executed well but we had to be careful to acknowledge the 180 degree rule. One problem we encountered during the construction was continuity. We only had a limited amount of time to film our preliminary task so had to stick to a tight schedule. However, after filming we realised that one of our shots had to be re shoot  But this was the next day and our actor was wearing different clothes consequently, in order to preserve good continuity we had to re shoot the whole footage. However, this can be viewed as a good thing because we were able to get better quality shots and acknowledged any errors we had made before. 

As well as camera techniques, in our movie we also incorporated various camera angles. For Example, we used medium, medium close ups and close up shots and Point of View shots.  We also used a dolly shot, which we executed by placing the camera on top of a school chair and wheeling along the camera in the scene which has Yusuf walking down a corridor. However, in doing this we encountered a problem, in view of the fact when pushing the chair, the camera wasn't stationary therefore our shot became shaky which wasn't our intention. We were going to use a CCTV shot, but didn't include it in the final production as we acknowledged that it would be hard to merge that and the match on action well. This was probably the most difficult shot because we didn't have anything to place the camera onto, I had to stand on a chair, holding the camera above Nile's head in order to film it which took us numerous attempts.

After we finished filming the video we uploaded the video onto the computer and then opened it on iMovie so we could edit it. The film was edited by Nile and Yusuf with input from all three of us regarding length of cuts, what to leave out, choice of music etc. A problem we encountered during editing was deciding when to cut scenes so we could display match-on-action as effectively as possible.