Final Cut

This is our finished product.

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

• Our knowledge of Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro has become greater and we have become more fluent in how we use it.

• We have realized the importance of blogging what we have done. It helped us to have a clearer picture of what we need to do and consolidate all the work we had done so far.

• We incorporated the use of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to create a more professional look to our product.

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

During the process of filming and making our opening sequence, we learned:

• How to make animated titles,

• How to become more efficient with the software such as Soundtrack Pro, Final Cut Pro and LiveType,

• To use programs like Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop, and add files made on there onto Final Cut.

• We had some problems with the technology, for example, the microphone did not always pick up the sound (which we had to dub over later).
• We also had difficulties trying to sync the sound and music with the film on Final Cut - this was the only time we needed any help with the process.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The topic being discussed would attract a certain audience due to relativity of the topic. It covers current issues and addresses the audience in a way that people in a similar situation can relate to, especially the plot and the main character.

Feedback:

• Feedback was mostly positive, feedback that wasn't positive was, however, constructive towards our final cut.
• We decided to keep the pace of our earlier shots as slow as we did because we felt that that time of day (morning) is not fast-paced, so therefore would not be a true representation of time period.

Who would be the audience and why?

• The film would be a 15 certificate, we agreed on this for two reasons:

1. The film contains characters in stressful, high-pressure life events, meaning that the language used could be less restrained. There is no reason why we thought it should be higher than a 15 because it would not fit the criteria of an 18 film.
2. The topic of unemployment would not have as much relevance, or importance for possible viewers under the age of 15; because many people under 15 do not have a job and the topic might be seen by many young people as 'unappealing'.

• A more specific demographic that might be people who have been recently affected by the economic downturn. Viewers from this category would be more likely to relate to the plight of the main character.

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

• A rarely portrayed film topic, a current, British film about unemployment might be distributed by a more independent film institution, such as Working Title or Pathe.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

It's more of a fictional portrayal rather than making a social comment about men of a certain age having a mid-life crisis and it just so happens to be that redundancy is the cause of this.

The mise-en-scene as a whole, especially the cans of Fosters and the strewn bits of paper, represents how a man who has just been made redundant can reduce himself to excessive drinking and generally falls into a messy life style.

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

Conventions:

• Sound: Mandolin - rarely used for film scores. More background music than dominant and central to the point of the visuals. Creates a mood and atmosphere as opposed to relating to the plot.

• Editing: Reversed plot timeline (starts at the end scene and then goes back in time). Slow shots when the character is on his bed show that he is thinking about his plight. In contrast to the triplets - not seen often, and gives the sequence a more upbeat rhythm, showing that he is happy.

• Cinematography: Zoom in at the beginning - shows the central character, getting closer to him shows the relationship the audience will have with the character. Walking into the character happens at the end - meaning that the plot has gone full-circle.
  

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• Mise-en-scene: Pathetic fallacy used when character is walking to work - captures his positive mood at that time. Untidiness of his room mirrors the untidiness of his mental well-being after he lost his job.

• Plot: Unconventional, yet current and newsworthy topic is being discussed in this film. Because of the unconventionality of the film, it is highly likely that it would get substantial news coverage.

Rough Cut Editing

Over the last week, we started editing the 'rough cut' of our opening sequence. In addition to editing what we had already filmed in Bleadon the previous week, we also had to film a clock, showing the passage of time.

Also, we added the logos of our studio and production companies; we all worked on the Happy Paper Productions logo, and Will and I did the Grave Cat Studios animated logo.

We hope to have the rough cut finished by the end of Thursday's lesson (March 11th).

Production Company Logo

We decided to use different ways to graphically show the name of our production company - Happy Paper Productions. This is why we chose to use a chain of paper men as part of our logo. Also the painting in the background of the hill and sky, in a way relates the paper side of our production name. We decided to keep the logo for this production company more simple than the one for 'Grave Cat Studios', because rather than having two poor quality animated logos we decided to focus on one so that we could spend more time on it, making it better and also with one of the logos being a still picture it allows more time for the actual opening sequence.

We thought that we would use a child's handwriting because children often make paper chains, and because childhood is meant to be a 'happy' time in their lives.

Filming Changes

We have already spent some time filming the first part of the opening sequence. Some parts went well, others didn't.

The first problem was the fact that we did not use a tripod to film the 'toast' set of triplets. This meant that the camera was shaking while waiting for the toast to pop out and moved significantly when the toast was eventually ready. There was also a reflection of the cameraman in the toaster, which did not help the situation.

(insert screengrab of toaster here)

Somethings, however, went better. The scene in which the main character Mark brushes his teeth was, we think, very effective.

Another successful part of the filming was the use of mise-en-scene to show how Mark was struggling to cope.

Overall, we've filmed nearly half of our opening sequence - we are hoping to finish filming on Thursday (25th).

Minor Character Profiles

As well as the two main characters in our opening sequence, there are going to be three other characters in it - however, these have more minor roles in the sequence.

Jason Greene & Kelly Thomas:

• Husband and Wife,
• Friends of Vivian,
• Jason works for Santander (this is how he knows Vivian),
• They have an overly positive view of life (environmentally-conscious, New Age couple)
• This attitude to life often annoys Mark.

Drake Cox:

• Mark's best friend (works with him at Optimum)
• Comes from Houston, Texas,
• Based on the actor Wayne Knight (pictured right)

Main Character Profiles

Here are character profiles for the two main protagonists in our opening sequence:

Mark Howard:

• Works as a Financial Advisor for Optimum Bank,
• Has worked for Optimum for nearly 10 years,
• Before that, he studied a Business degree at the London School of Economics,
• His father worked for Optimum for over 40 years,
• Although he is successful, he has often been overlooked for promotion,
• This has made him increasingly unhappy about his job,
• He feels that life is becoming more monotonous (as shown by his morning routine).

Vivian Ritter:

• Mark's girlfriend,
• They started dating five years ago when Vivian was Mark's secretary at Optimum,
• However, two years ago, she found a more successful job as a consultant for Santander,
• This means that she has to travel around Europe a lot,
• Vivian is more optimistic about life than Mark, but she is becoming increasing fed up with Mark's unhappiness.

Tripling Test

After discussing ways to film our opening sequence, we decided on a continuity technique which will feature heavily in the actual filming of our opening sequence. By filming a morning routine in shots of three, we hope to give the sequence a sense of rhythm. To make sure that this would work effectively, we decided to try filming different sequences in shots of three. Our attempt at filming and editing such a sequence is above.

Initial Ideas

Our preliminary idea was a mockumentary (in the style of Warp films; Shane Meadows etc.) about a gameshow host that struggles to enjoy his job because he chose to host a very poor show, getting bad press, ruining his career. The subtle humour would be too difficult to pull off as many people might not get it. It would also be too difficult to achieve successfully in such a short time frame.

Our second idea was based on a short story one of us wrote for English coursework a few months ago. Using an original piece by one of us meant that we would have inspiration and complete artistic license over what we could do. This idea is the one that we decided to do because of its relevance in today's society and the scarcity of films in our intended genre/theme at the moment. However, because of the longevity of the film production process, there are likely to be a lot more recession-based films in the near future.

Continuity Exercise

We did an exercise to put into practise the rules of film continuity and the 180 degree rule.

Induction Practical

As an induction to the practical process, we were set a brief to create an opening to a thriller film. Above is our effort.