What kind of media intstitution will distribute our media product and why?

Ealing studios

Ealing studios is a television and film production company. It is the oldest production company and has been running since 1896. They were originally proposed for the sound in early British films. This guarantees that they have experience; our film would be distributed in good hands.

The institution has had experience with all different kinds of genre films. They have had years of experience since 1930 with comedy and war films. Our film is a comedy, so their distribution techniques would be developed and professional, due to the many years they have spend distributing different kinds of comedy films.

"In the second of our series developed in partnership with BT, Jonathan Ross introduces an interactive guide to the work of Ealing Studios, from the 1910s to the late 1950s. Best-remembered today for its comedies, Ealing was about much more than that".
This was quoted by http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tours/ross/tourross.html.
The intuition has a great reputation and has had experienced and well-known workers within its company.

They have many studios in various UK locations, making our film easily distributed, wherever we are:

BeaconsfieldDenhamStudios
Ealing Studios
Elstree Studios
FilmFourGainsborough Pictures & Gaumont-British
Hammer FilmsNettlefold Studios,
Walton-on-ThamesPinewood Studio
Shepperton Studios
Southall StudiosTeddington Studios
Twickenham Studios

They have distributed similar films, such as,
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008) - which is a teenage based around a school.
St. Trinian's (2007) - Another teenage film about spiteful teenage girls in a private British school
I Want Candy (2007) - A comedy based on older teenagers
Bride & Prejudice (2004) - A romantic comedy that received numerous rewards
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) - Another romantic comedy that received numerous rewards. The film was distributed with this company and due to its success, didn't change institutions.

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/studios/ealing/filmography02.html

Inspiration Comparison - How does our media product represent particular social groups?

We were inspired by many movies which helped us to represent our particular social group- to help us pick our genre and main characters personality. We looked at Mean girls; which was based around the stereotypical hierarchy of social status. We used the image of the main 'popular hated' girls to help create the image of our main character. We were able to do this by using the same mise en scene; props, such as short skirts, make-up, high heels and a polished/ groomed appearance. We also used the location - a College/ High school.

We also looked at Kidulthood and Adulthood. We used these examples to compare how teenagers act and how teenagers are portrayed to the general public. We got the impression that they were generally rude, ignorant and belong to social cliques. We used this example to portray our teenage characters; by showing teenagers in cliques and all staring at Mabina when she walks in the room. We also looked at the main female character in this film - she was wearing shorts and had an attitude. This is how we portrayed our character in our film.

The girl from Kidulthood Mabina wearing shorts and heels Character from Mean girls

Our opening scenes show 3 different groups. The first is Charlotte Ross walking in through doors ( this is our first shot) she sits down with other girls and a few boys. This is one group. As the establishing shot takes place; you notice another group full of boys in hoody's. This is another social group. It continues to rotate and we notice a group of 2 students with glasses working. This is another group. When Mabina walks in she doesn't belong to any group. We are able to identify the groups through what they are wearing, the size of the groups, the gender and their social complaince to otehr members of different cliques and people in their own clique.

Filming Process

We have finished all of our filming and have now moved on to the editing process.

We Filmed our shots in the common room and the stair case coming up to the common room. We filmed the shots during our free periods and lunch breaks. 

Filming

We included our reaction shots of individuals and groups. These shots were used to show how the students reacted (shocked) when our main character approached them. 

We used an over the shoulder shot of Mabina looking at her phone. This added some variation t our shot choices and increased anxiety as the audience was  able to clearly see what she was looking at, which was a video of her looking at a video on her mobile with screaming in the background.

We used a low angle tracking shot of Mabinas body, as the camera was unsteady, we made a range of various cuts whilst it was rotating upwards. This gave an interesting effect which correlated well with the slow motion and fast forward effects.

Editing

When we was editing - we managed to put in our titles, this included the name of our film, our production names, all participants names displayed next to their role in the film.

In our 2 main shots -  the establishing shot and Mabina approaching the room shot - we cut these shots creating continuity and the idea that two things are happening at the same time. 

 The audience as able to identify when the main event was going to take place as the sound of a heartbeat began to play and the last few shots were edited as slow motion was increased tension and intensity. We also got rid of the real background sounds of everyone talking and replaced it with the sounds of a empty hall. This sound was quiet, but less harsh than complete silence.

 

Audience feedback

As a class, we watched each-others films and was given feedback. Our audience feedback was produced by a range of positive and negative improvement methods.

The features of our which was most liked:

• good cutaways
• good heartbeat
• good slow motion
• good reaction shots
• 'fast forward' editing
• Mabinas legs walking
• titles

The features of our film which was disliked:

• awkward silence at the beginning
• the fast forward bit contrasted to the slow motion shots
• camera a bit shaky
• pan a bit slow
• Dylan ( a boy) moves in the last shot
• lack of continuity

The assumed target audience:

• teenagers
• 15 +
• teens to adults
• everyone - teens

The assumed target audience was correct, our film is directed towards teenagers.

We will improve our bad feedback by;

awkward silence at the beginning - we will add in a voice over

the fast forward bit contrasted to the slow motion shots - we will make the fast forward shot slightly slower and add in more time zone shots so it looks more natural

camera a bit shaky - we've added in more effects so you do not notice the bad camera work as much

pan a bit slow - we made it fast using fast forward effect

Dylan ( a boy) moves in the last shot - we CUT him out of the shot by making it shorter

Sounds and Mabinas walking shots

We have successfully filmed the scene of Mabina walking towards the common room. We have included a range of shots to portray our  maximum filming ability. We are going to film each shot of Mabina walking individually i n different settings, then cut the shots so they are all connected to each-other.  However, we have not fully decided on all of the shots, therefore, we may subtract or include another another shot that will benefit our filming and make the narrative easy to follow

Our shots include:

• low angle, rotate shot of mabina walking up the stairs
• a POV shot of Mabina walking around the corner looking at her feet
• a low angle tracking shot of the front of Mabina walking towards the door
• a medium tracking shot of the back of mabina walking towards the door
• Three of the same tracking shots of mabinas' feet - close up, medium shot, long shot.         (these will all be cut- allowing the shots to jump off each other

We have also decided on the sounds. The main sound will be a voice over of mabina talking. This will help the audience to understand the narrative. In addition, we will be playing he sound of a heart beat signifying Mabinas anticipation - the audience will build tension. Towards the end of the opening scene the volume of the heartbeat will increases maximizing tension - this will increase when the voice over stops.

link to our sounds:

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/wmcstore/WMCshop.cgi?action=dbview&id=RSFX08

we will be using heartbeat2 - several

Questionnaire

Questionnaire

We created a questionnaire which was designed to help us find out what would interest our viewers. The questions were relevant to how, why and what is your favourite kind of film. We asked 7 boys and 4 girls, in year 12 and 13. The results followed that teenage comedy's were the most popular. The least popular were sci-fi. Th most popular location to film was in college, as students claimed that they could associate more with the setting. Most people also included that they would prefer a female lead, as their are usually more interesting narratives around girls than boys.

So we are now certain that our narrative/story line will appeal to our target audience, which is teenagers aged any age from 12- 26 and possibly to even broader measures.

Today we put the finishing touches to the presentation for our pitch and began writing a draft for our script. We took into account comments and critcisims given on our first practice pitch and made changes accordingly. For example we changed our powerpoint so that each slide had less writing on it so that our pitch would not be focused around each slide - rather focused around what we have to say. We also included a new part of the pitch talking about our target audidence and how we will fit our film around our target audience's expectations.
We have now written a script to use in conjunction with the powerpoint. Each member of our team has a copy of the script and will learn their lines so that when the pitch time comes we will not just be reading from sheets.

We have also added to our blog today, writing about what we have changed to our pitch so that it will get the marks we need.