Evaluation #1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

 The design of the title is conventional of an action movie because it has bullet holes, signifying the violence that a typical action genre involves, in particular with guns. The bullets are shot into the title screen making it more dynamic and violent, making it look more high budget instead of a plain title showing. The title also has a metallic effect, relating to action conventions where it could reflect weaponry such as knives or guns.

In the trailer, there are multiple establishing shots to show the audience where the movie takes place. These shots include rural and urban areas to add more locations, making the film seem more high budget. This shot shows a significant and well-known landmark (the Burj Khalifa) which would help to popularize the trailer and implies that the action in the movie is worldwide and the protagonists/antagonists are very powerful.

In this shot we see the antagonist in black clothing and a pistol in his hands. This is conventional of an action genre as antagonists generally dress in black to blend in to darkness and makes them more mysterious. However, they are occasionally seen wearing masks to hide their identity but in this shot we show his face to show the serious expression he has on his faced. He is also equipped with a pistol that is conventional of an antagonist to use as when they are assigned to assassinate someone, they want to so it with small, portable equipment to complete his mission quickly. However, they can use bigger weapons such as assault rifles for bigger tasks, like you see later on in the trailer.

There are multiple shots shown in the trailer to express the atmosphere of scenes and characters emotions. This high angle shot gives a sense of vulnerability to the character, but shows his determination as the camera is moving with him, adding a dynamic element to the scene. The editing in the trailer is slow at the start but starts to build up more with quicker cuts and more prevalence given to characters. This is conventional of an action genre as they are very much fast-paced throughout and the various shots are compelling to the audience.


The story of the trailer is conventional of an action movie as it involves the protagonist chasing down an anonymous character, adding an enigma to the audience as to who he is. The audience are shown that he is linked to various terror attacks around the world, another cliche of the genre as the antagonist plot usually affects everyone on an international level.

The introduction of the characters in the trailer are conventional of an action genre as the first person you see is not showing their face and has their back to the screen walking away. This adds an enigma as to who is this person and what makes them so significant, creating intensity and makes people carry on to watch. This is cliche of the genre as producers like to take their time introducing the characters to add more suspense.

Audience and Genre

Audience and Genre

The trailer myself and the production team created appeals to the audience as it is one of the most popular genres that appeal to the most amount of people, therefore increasing its popularity. As it is an action genre, people expect to see some violence and a narrative that involves the protagonist trying to overcome the antagonist. This allows people to escape from their lives and relax by watching something entertaining. It also allows for something a little different to the average person's daily life, immersing themselves in a different world which could help to release them from their stress. As we leave many enigmas within the trailer, such as why someone is being hunted and chased  down? Who is responsible for the terrorist attacks? etc., it allows viewers to interact with others that have seen the trailer to talk about their opinions on it and what they think the answer to the enigmas are. This allows people to socialize while at the same time popularizing the trailer and the movie production, making it a success in the marketing and distribution process of the film. Finally, audiences are able to identify with the characters as we have dressed them in casual uniform as well as formal suits, relating to multiple lives that come from various backgrounds, increasing the audience volume. A key feature in our trailer is to entertain the audience with quick paced editing and tense music. This relates to the uses and gratifications model theory, where Blumler and Katz point out one reason people apply the media to their lives is to be entertained. This meant that in the production of the trailer,we had to make sure people had a positive reaction to it and would want to see the full film. This also links to another reason Blumler and Katz reflect, where people watch the media to escape their daily life troubles. 

Laura May's Male Gaze theory is evident in our trailer as the protagonist is male and so is the antagonist, conforming to a convention of the action genre industry. As women are rarely initiated as main characters in action genres, we have conformed to this and in turn this attracts a mainly male audience. We also involve a damsel in distress to make a personal motive for the protagonist, relating to many action movies of its type. 

Evaluation #4 - Use of Media Technologies

Use of Media Technologies

Camera
The Canon 500D was the filming camera we used. It is not too big so can be transported easily due to its portability. It also films in Full HD so that our film can look high budget and the high frames per second increase the smoothness of the film. The camera also has features that allowed us to film in the dark, as we wanted to film characters in the dark so our trailer can adhere to the conventions of an action genre.

Phone

We used the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge to film shots where the camera was not available. This was primarily used when filming abroad such as in Dubai and Iceland as the camera could not be taken. However, the S6 has one of the highest quality cameras on the mobile phone market, filming at Ultra 4K HD at 30 FPS, allowing less pixels to ensure the footage is of highest quality and an untroubled video where frames are not skipped which would diminish its quality.

Tripod

The tripod was used to help stabilize the footage we were filming. We attached the camera onto the top by screwing the bottom of the camera where a screw hole was to the screw on the platform at the top of the tripod. 

  

Evaluation #2 - Syndicate Trailer: Narration Analysis

Syndicate Trailer: Narration Analysis

Editing Diary - Day 5

Editing Diary - Day 5

For the final day of our editing we had the music fitting accordingly with the intro, narration and main body of our trailer so we wanted to ensure the conclusion of the trailer was of similarly high quality. We decided on concluding the trailer by creating a montage as they were often seen in action movies as the increased pace and number of shots adds more onto the storyline and showcases the action qualities the movie would hold. We began by collecting the shots we had left to use which would be placed in quick succession.

The shots were placed with particular effort into contrasting the shots highlighted. We used a car chase scene we got in Dubai along with other shots which emphasised the qualities of the trailer. The protagonist was seen in most of the shots to keep the audience constantly engaged with the trailer. The shots gradually got shorter as the music got quicker until eventually both cut out onto a prolonged shot of Bill saying:
"leave it to me"
The low angle shots puts particular emphasis on the characters and we deemed this as the most effective way of ending our trailer.

Lastly we added the various actor credits in the trailer which was relatively difficult to do due to the random order of the shots. Eventually we placed them on shots which we thought would work well. With the protagonist and antagonist getting prevalence as we believed that that was important. We also added the finished titles which had been animated in Photoshop and the end credits to make the trailer seem that much more professional.

Editing Diary - Day 4

Editing Diary - Day 4

For the fourth day of editing we ensured to carry on from where we left off. This included continuing the action scenes we had. Particularly involving the prolonged shots we had acquired. We also decided that we should use some dolly shots we had of Dubai and Iceland which we managed to get through the use of a car. The Iceland shots were filmed with a phone so they were rather difficult to edit properly. The shots were filmed in a format which the editing software struggled slightly with as the shots appeared in the library horizontally and not vertically. To counter this we incorporated the tools available to rotate the shots and format them properly although this did lead to the shots being magnified, they were still of quality which we were happy with.

We also incorporated shots which featured both the protagonist and antagonist in a sort of standoff with the idea that they further contrast eachother and allows us to further the plot substantially as we believe the audience would be engaged with the rivalry. This also accompanied the music to a certain degree as the prolonged shots we had allowed the music to gain some sort of pace before we incorporated the montage of shots towards the end.

We were also able to engage more with the sound in our trailer as some of it was of lower quality. We implemented the shots we had onto different layers which allowed us to edit them depending on what we needed. Some shots were specifically for the visual effect to go with the music whilst other shots played a role in the audio alongside the music. There was specific focus on trimming the shots to fit the music and make the trailer more fluid as a whole.

Editing Diary - Day 3

Editing Diary - Day 3

After creating the intro previously, on the third day of editing we needed to focus on the main part of the trailer. This included placing all the various scenes into a rough order. We wanted to ensure the prevalence of shots remained on Bill's protagonist with the occasional contrast against Matt's antagonist to add emphasis on the roles the characters play in the movie. At the beginning of the sequence we incorporated shots from the scouthut, Conor's house and Iceland to make the trailer seem more dynamic as the differing backgrounds make it feel more like a blockbuster film. We wanted to make the trailer gain pace as it continued to increase tension and highlight the plot of the trailer to the audience.

After the initial shots we added the chase scene in London and various shots of the protagonist. We were focusing around incorporating scenes with guns as much as possible as to suit to the genre. We tried to ensure a range of shits were evident including a high angle shot, long shot and a pov shot. Overall we were placing the shots in a particular order as the shots of Dubai and Iceland acted as the exotic locations you usually see in action films and so we placed them accordingly with our more rural shots. We were lacking a bit in terms of these exotic shots though as we only had limited footage available to us at this time.

One of the main features of the third day was finding a suitable soundtrack to the trailer as we couldn't properly edit the various shots without the music as we wanted it to time well. Eventually we found a good piece which we deemed acceptable as it was dramatic and added tension as it went along as it gradually got quicker. It was also useful as it fit into the two minute time frame we had for the trailer. Eventually we primarily edited the shots we had with the music selected to make the trailer seem professional. The last shot we had was a long shot of Bill with a  it of dialogue. The dialogue is fairly vague and adds an enigma to the trailer whilst the music incorporates a slight drop into silence which adds much needed effect onto the dialogue.

Editing Diary - Day 2

Editing Diary - Day 2

After sorting out the folders we wanted to ensure we got a high quality introduction as we deemed it to be the most important aspect of the trailer as it sets the scene and allows us to explain the plot of the movie through the use of narration. We decided that the shots at the very start should be prolonged as it allows particular focus on the voiceover for the trailer. The voiceover consisted of dialogue between Conor and Bill used to mainly explain the storyline of the Syndicate, we filmed both of them for the audio and visual side of things individually, the voiceover consisted of the lines:
Conor - "Syndicate, a crime organisation responsible for multiple terrorist attacks in cities around the world, so explain to me.........what happened in London?"
Bill - "he got away"
Conor - "track him down, no mistakes this time"
Bill- "he took me all round the world, i still haven't found him"
Conor - "if you don't find him, he'll find you"
Bill - "Leave it to me"
We wanted the narration to be effective and so focused on the timing of the words spoken, the music and the images shown to try and add the best sort of effect to our production. We added in a transition along with the gun shot to add fluency to the shots portrayed whilst the production titles were placed accurately with the music to highlight the production. We wanted to ensure the narration was placed in the right area and so we created a rough time in terms of seconds for us to place the narration on, this included:
- certificate rating
- bill walking to the dialogue shot of Conor, narration; 3-14 seconds
- "he got away", shot of chase scene; 20 seconds
- "track him down...", shot of bill in scout hut; 22 seconds
- gun shot, fade to black
-"he took me round the world..." plane shot of Iceland, car shot of Dubai; 26 seconds
- low angle shot of Matt shooting, fade to black; 31 seconds

Filming Diary - Day 6

Filming Diary - Day 6

We needed a few shots more to allow us to have enough footage top complete the trailer. After we roughly ordered the intro it was obvious we were lacking in terms of time, so when Matt and Bill were going to Iceland for a weekend and so we wanted them to get some sots of the snowy tundra to contrast what we saw in Dubai. They were able to get some shots from a plane, a car and one from the hotel room to add more depth to the film trailer as a whole. Once they got back we filmed more of Matt and Bill in a scout hut located in Oxshott.

We filmed a few shots at the scout hut mainly involving both characters with the use of guns as to adhere to the action qualities expected in that trailer type. We got both low angle and high angle shots of the characters to portray the balance of power between the characters. We also got some medium and long shots of the protagonist as he is the central character of our film and we wanted that to be prevalent throughout the scenes.

Evaluation Feedback

I know you have been working on your responses - make sure they are uploaded as and when so I can support you further!

In your responses to your final production make sure you are clearly referring to choices and outcomes in an evaluative way - make sure you are addressing the areas outlined by me below:

What did you do? Explain a transition or effect you opted for in the editing process.  What effect did you achieve?  Explain how the choice you made was intended to make the target audience think or feel.  How does this show progression in your use of skills? Explain how this is better than your AS production's outcomes by linking to what you did in your portfolio last year.

These choices are really important for you to reflect on to show you fully understand how you have developed your skills - and make sure you evaluate the comments made by the test audience (the class) using specialist terminology.

We do not have long until the deadline for this final stage of your portfolio - so make sure you are pushing yourself and achieving the marks your efforts this year deserve!

Evaluation #3 - Presentation of Syndicate

Presentation of Syndicate

Syndicate - Magazine Covers

Syndicate - Magazine Covers

Magazine Cover

Our film is an action/ thriller so the poster and magazine had to be dark and mysterious. 

The title is red because it stands out against the black background and could signify the blood and love featured in the film from the fights and love interest within the movie. 

Within the cover we have featured some articles that are recent, for example: the Oscars nominations happens in February so it is very near. Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2 are still very recent films that are still talked about frequently over social media. 

At the bottom of the cover we have the title of out film 'The Syndicate', the slogan 'Thriller of the year' and 'The action continues inside.' These all relate to our film as they are all written in white writing and have a shine effect over them. They are also all in the same font.

To the middle right of the image is the barcode which is obviously needed to purchase the magazine. On the top of the barcode is a date and the price of the magazine.

Behind the two main characters is a strip of three images from London as a big part of our film is set in London. The two characters are central to the cover, signifying their importance to the film as they are the Hero and the Villain. They are both posed with their guns showing that they are prepared to fight each other, to the death.

We did create two more magazine covers but decided to use our original cover as it had the most information and looked the best out of the three.

Our second cover was inspired by the cover of Total Film magazine when Godzilla was on the cover. The reds of the image could signify the blood and the torture that the characters have to endure throughout the film. The London skyline is highlighted by a white mist which could signify the mysterious atmosphere that the film gives off. Our third cover was a sepia themed cover so we added a sepia filter over the black and white background. Both of the covers featured just the title and 'Limited edition collectors cover' on the bottom of the cover accompanied by two silver lines. On the third cover, we have also added 'What happened in London?' which is a quote from our trailer.

Magazine Logo Research

Magazine Logo Research

These are the Magazine cover titles that have inspired out magazine title.

Total Film's title has inspired ours the most as it is thick and bold so it is easily recognizable when it is placed on a rack of other magazines.

This is our logo, you can see that it is heavily inspired by the Total Film magazine logo.

Editing Diary - Part 2

Editing Diary - Part 2

After sorting out the folders we wanted to ensure we got a high quality introduction as we deemed it to be the most important aspect of the trailer as it sets the scene and allows us to explain the plot of the movie through the use of narration. We decided that the shots at the very start should be prolonged as it allows particular focus on the voiceover for the trailer. The voiceover consisted of dialogue between Conor and Bill used to mainly explain the storyline of the Syndicate, we filmed both of them for the audio and visual side of things individually, the voiceover consisted of the lines:
Conor - "Syndicate, a crime organisation responsible for multiple terrorist attacks in cities around the world, so explain to me.........what happened in London?"
Bill - "he got away"
Conor - "track him down, no mistakes this time"
Bill- "he took me all round the world, i still haven't found him"
Conor - "if you don't find him, he'll find you"
Bill - "Leave it to me"
We wanted the narration to be effective and so focused on the timing of the words spoken, the music and the images shown to try and add the best sort of effect to our production. We added in a transition along with the gun shot to add fluency to the shots portrayed whilst the production titles were placed accurately with the music to highlight the production. We wanted to ensure the narration was placed in the right area and so we created a rough time in terms of seconds for us to place the narration on, this included:
- certificate rating
- bill walking to the dialogue shot of Conor, narration; 3-14 seconds
- "he got away", shot of chase scene; 20 seconds
- "track him down...", shot of bill in scout hut; 22 seconds
- gun shot, fade to black
-"he took me round the world..." plane shot of Iceland, car shot of Dubai; 26 seconds
- low angle shot of Matt shooting, fade to black; 31 seconds

Trailer Credit #3

Trailer Credit #3

The last set of credits we made are predominantly for the poster but we can also use them for our end credits, for example we could use this in our coming soon part of the end credits, this would help fill valuable space and could make it look more professional. We could pull it off separately as a split second shot at the end of the trailer, we could blend it in and even if just fills up a two second segment of our film it will still show the detail we went into.

Trailer Credit #2

Trailer Credit #2

The next lot of end credits I did was to give all of the acclaim to the people who made the film, we used a basic end credits template and built on it using visuals from other end credits we found, we made sure that we had all the right credits given, people who worked more on specific sections were given all the credit and for the those more basic things such as the ideas where a producer would be concerned we accredited all of us

Trailer Credit #1

Trailer Credit #1

The first lot of end credits but probably the last to show will be this one, overall the simplicity of the design is essential as it just needs to grab the attention of the audience, the "coming soon" part of the end credits is the biggest as its there to grab attention, the crown i used above is there for the purpose of filling the background, we made up the social media to make it seem like the movie is a work in progress which is coming soon, this would help in a real life situation to get a following for the film.

Music Research

Music Research

The Syndicate Poster & Evaluation

The Syndicate Poster & Evaluation

Movie Poster

Our film is an Action/ Thriller film so our poster had to be dark and slightly mysterious. 

The white writing stands out against the black background because they are contrasting colours making the white writing bold and clear. 

The star reviews are slightly faded in to the image so that none of the image becomes distorted and doesn't look out of place. We haven't made all of the reviews five stars because that would be too much because no film ever gets all five star reviews. For example: the poster for Legend his a two star review from the Guardian between the two main characters heads. Each star review is parallel to each other so it does not look like a mess. 

On the top of the poster, we have included the name of the four main actors/actress because in movie posters they usually have the names of the actors/actresses to appeal to more audiences because a person may go to see a film just because of a person in a film. At the top, we also have references to our AS productions as people often see films from directors that they have seen before.

The production credits at the bottom of the poster are completely our own, featuring producers, actors and people who have helped with the film. Below the credits we have written 'Coming Soon' as there was no date we could agree on. A lot of films put out posters before their release with 'Coming Soon' written on them to get their audience exited and prepared for the film. 'Experience it in 3D' is also written below which a lot of films do now because it brings in a lot of profit for the film making companies.

Beside 'Coming Soon' and 'Experience it in 3D' we have the two logos of our companies, Triptic Films and Independent Film Making Studios, who have made and produces the film. It is common for movie posters to have the logos because it shows the audience who the creators were which may be a fact in why people go to see films, exactly like the Directors and Actors reasoning.

On the very bottom of the poster, there is links to the movies Facebook and Twitter pages. This is very common for films to do now because social media plays a huge part in advertising and promoting a film to all ages of viewers because most of the population are now on social media. Facebook and Twitter are the most used social medias today so it makes sense to advertise there.

The title on the poster is the title we created by ourselves, just like everything else on the poster. It was a simple white text of our title but is made to look shiny by having the slight black border to the sides of the letters.

The images featured on the poster are completely our own. Our main character is directly in the middle of the image with the love interest and the villain to the sides of the main character. The anti-hero's eyes are placed at the top of the poster to create suspense as you can only see his eyes and nothing else. The main character is in the middle of the poster because he is the lead role and he is featured in the movie the most. Having the main in the middle makes him seem like he is the most important character in the film. He is also holding a pistol, showing what weapon he uses in the film and also shows that he is in control of his situation. To the left of the main character is the love interest of the main character. It was important to include this character because she is what he is fighting for in the film as she gets kidnapped by the villain. To the right of the main character is the villain who is holding his gun in a downward position as he is anticipating an attack from the opposing side. On his face, you can clearly see two lines of red indicating that he has been injured on his face during the film, most likely by the opposing side.

Final Trailer - Syndicate

Final Trailer - Syndicate

Makeup - Part 2

Makeup - Part 2

Makeup - Part 1

Makeup - Part 1

Poster & Magazine Shots

Poster & Magazine Shots