Weekly Update (Week 2) (Georgia Harris)

This week in both our night session and our Friday lesson, we re-filmed our Preliminary task and completed it, and are now in the progress of editing it, so we can upload it onto our blog. We also learnt more about the filming equipment that will be used and the way in which we must use it. Also we went into detail on how to apply the 180 degree rule and match on action when filming.

In our Friday lesson, we finally filled in each member of our groups responsibilities and tasks that have to be completed, in order for the filming to go ahead.

Target Audience Research (Georgia Harris & Mensah-Tandoh)

We have chosen to aim our trailer at a 15+, mainly female dominated audience.
Our reasons for choosing this is because it's setting is based in a college, where the people are aged between 16 and up, so it will allow the audience to relate easily. Also the main character is female, so the females of the audience can also relate to the typical, everyday college student.
Also the socio-economic group which our target audience will fit into will be working class citizens, every-day people living in average housing, and working a Monday to Friday 9-5 job.

We have chosen this particular group, again so the audience will relate to the characters and gain an easier understanding of the situation and the living environments in which they live and socialise within.One being going to a college a person from this background is able to identify themselves as they may live the same life styles,wear the same clothes and have be able to have access to the same facilies they see throughout the film

Name:Iffhra
Age:17 Years old
Interests:Singing,church,friend and family,studying,music,nightsout,watching films and shopping
Dislikes: Long lessons,liars,not getting her own way,disappointment,
The reason i have asked Iffhra these questions, is because i feel Iffhra is a good representaion of the type of people,that we are targeting to watch our opening film sequence.She has strong believes and strong opinions about the things she likes and dislikes.She also comes from the same social-economic background of the people that shown on our film.We as a group also feel that she is like them and can relate to the way they are.

Treatment (Audrey Khanye)

Product:
We are going to be filming the 2-minute opening sequence of our film called the: "The Replacement" as our product, which is based on the genre thriller. After or during our filming period we plan to market our film campaign using various methods such as advertising which will help our trailer reach a wide audience as we will be advertising our products on many platforms e.g. through the radio, TV, newspaper, and the internet. Using social networking sites such as Facebook and Youtube (on the internet) is vital to our campaign as our target audience are ages 16+, this age group is the most likely to be using these sites.
Also globalisation will allow our product to reach audiences world wide

Target audience:
We aim to target a wide audience of teenagers and adults ranging from 16+, also a mainly female dominated audience. Our reasons for this is because the setting is based in a college, where the people are aged between 16 and above, so it will allow the audience to relate easily. Also the main character is female, so the females of the audience can also relate to the typical, everyday college student. Also the socio-economic group which our target audience will fit into will be working class citizens, every-day people living in average housing, and working a Monday to Friday 9-5 job.

In order to find out more in formation about our audience and also to get some feedback about our film I posted a created a face book group, and put together questionnaire for them to fill in. My questionnaire asked questions such as: are the antagonist and the protagonist clear in this film? Is our story line easy to follow?
What did you like most about our movie? Etc.

Institution
Our production’s logo is called Twisted productions. Our product will be distributed via the internet and it's mediums such as Facebook and Youtube


Genre
We plan to stick to the typical thriller genre when filming our 2 minute opening sequence which includes a number of conventions. A typical convention that we will include is antagonist vs protagonist
In order to make our opening sequence recognizable as a psychological thriller we will be following the codes and conventions of the thriller genre. Conventions we have included are: creating a sense of mystery, suspense such as creating the twist in the end when the audience discover that Jo the protagonist is not really disabled.

Software Used ( Elizabeth Mensah-Tandoh)

There will be various types of softwares that will need to use through out blog. One of them being Scribd. Scribd is a software that we have got use to using as it has helped layout or script better.At first we was not sure how to use it. However it was interesting as it made our script look a lot more professional than just writing it down on the blog. Another being Final cut pro.

This is the first time for all of us in the group using this software.It took some time getting use to features as we found them challenging. However Audrey is doing the editing has practiced while editing the preliminary task and is now learning more about the software and the various features it will offer us when editing our final opening sequence.
The third software we will be using is soundtrack pro. Which was on of the most exciting as when learning it will help our portfolio and editing our filming.

Theory (Elizabeth Mensah-Tandoh)

I thought it essential for me to find about the influential French literally theorist Roland Barthes. He developed a theory that there are five major codes within a story that are interwoven in order to create meaning. Barthes had five codes,The first being.

A Hermeneutic Code- is something that is unexplained and which creates an unanswered question, often appearing at the beginning of the story,creating a tension that engages the audience.
Hermeneutic codes are at the root of all mysteries. act is shown and the remainder of the narrative is for answering questions raised by the event. And in order for the audience to remain interested the final truth is not revealed.

The Proairetic Code-The Proairetic Code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described them as,dependent on,two sequential codes.The revelation of truth and the coordination of the actions represented: there is the same constraint in the gradual order of melody and in the equally gradual order of the narrative sequence.

The Semantic Code-This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills.

The Symbolic Code- which is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is done by the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.

The Cultural Code-This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth.This involves either science or religion, although other canons such as magical truths may be used in fantasy stories. The Gnomic Code is a cultural code that particularly refers to sayings, proverbs, clichés and other common meaning-giving word sets.

I learned all this information by looking at a powerpoint that my teacher gave me and also researching on various websites.So that was able to find out the real facts about Roland Barthes. This source of information has been helpful as it has actually really helpful to know when you are considering what to film.

BBFC Research (Audrey Khayne)

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an independent, non-governmental body funded through the fees it charges to those who submit films and video works for classification. Here, and throughout the Guidelines, video works are taken to include video games, and films and programmes released on DVD or Blu-ray, or distributed by means of download or streaming on the internet. The BBFC classifies films on behalf of the local authorities who license cinemas under the Licensing Act 2003.

Our is actually targeted at 15+ the reason for this is because we as a group feel that the story line will be mentally understood by people of this age group.Although the story line is easy to follow.It will only be suitable for someone of this age.

Designer Research (Audrey Khanye)

A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound. It usually follows but should not be confused with the opening credits, which are generally nothing more than a series of superimposed text.
Saul Bass was born in May 8, 1920, in New York City. He studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan until attending classes with Gyorgy Kepes at Brooklyn College.
Saul Bass became widely known in the industry after creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). The subject of the film was a jazz musician's struggle to overcome his heroin addiction, a taboo subject in the mid-'50s. Bass decided to create a contentious title sequence to match the film's controversial subject. He chose the arm as the central image, as the arm is a strong image relating to drug addiction. The titles featured an animated, black paper cut-out arm of a heroin addict. As he expected, it caused quite a stir.
He designed title sequences for 40 years, for films as diverse as Spartacus (1960), The Victors (1963), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and Casino (1995). All of which feature new and ground-breaking methods of production and startling graphic design.