Our Audience Research

As you can see in the post below, I have looked up about film classifications. As a group we have come together and decided to choose a 15. Melissa looked at doing a couple of questionnaires (one for handing out to random people in the public, and one that will be going out on facebook), This will give us a general idea of what our target audience should be. If you look at Kieron's blog, he is looking at different types of effects models to help us get an idea of what category our audience falls into. Have a look at their blogs from the links on the left hand side of my page.

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Film Classifications

       'Universal'. This means that it is suitable for all. There is no reference to drugs unless it is eductational to young children. Horror scenes should be mild, brief and very unlikely to cause the child anxiety. Basically, any nudity, violence and inappropriate behaviour will be either very mild, or have none at all.

      'Parental Guidance'. Unaccompanied children of any age may watch. A ‘PG’ film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children. This classification is a step up from 'Universal' so all drug references, nudity, violence etc. may be prolonged. However, they must still be mild.

    Suitable for 12 years and over. These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them. When a film is given this classification, it generally signifies a more maturer film. Imitable violence can be introduced e.g. hanging, suicide and self harming) but it must not dwell on detail. Moderate language is also allowed but it must not be infrequent. Although this film is more mature, scenes must still be suitable for young teenagers.

  Suitable for 15 years and over. No one younger than 15 may watch a 15 film in a cinema, neither can they rent a 15 film. Drugs may be shown in the film but they must not be encouraged. As for horror, it can be shown but must not be sadistic or sexualised. Any nudity or threat must still be subtle but it may be seen in a 15 film. However, it would not dwell on detail. Language would reach it's limit with a 15 including the word c**t (I don't like swearing so I won't write it correctly - I'm sensible.) however, repeating the language over and over again wouldn't be appropriate.




  Suitable for 18 years and over. At this age the BBFC’s public consultations and The Human Rights Act 1998 understood that at this age, 18 year old's were old enough to make their own decisions in what they would watch at their own risk. Every element of an 18 film would be at it's highest. Sex, nudity and violence etc. would be very explicit: making these rated films unsuitable for anyone under this age. 


OUR CONCLUSION;


We have decided to go with the certificate of 15. This is because although there is no real sex, nudity, drugs or violence in our O.T.S, there would be later on in the film. This is something that we have all really thought about. We may use some language in our opening title sequence too but we want to think and develop on that later. 


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The two step flow

As a group or by ourselves we are answering different questions and doing different tasks to help us figure out our audience. I am answering a question on the two step flow.
This theory shows the idea that whatever our experience of the media, we will be likely to discuss it with others and if we respect their opinion, the chances are that we will be more likely affected by it. (The theory calls these people opinion leaders.)

MY QUESTION;

Think about honestly - are your opinions about television, films or groups ever influenced by other people?
Going a stage further - do you think a friend's ideas about a media text could ever effect your behaviour in any way? This is what some people have suggested happened in the James Bulger case - that one of the two children talked about a film he had seen and influenced the other's behaviour. How could you present these findings on your blog?

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Our Plot Idea.

All of our group came together to add little bits to our plot. These are made up of a majority of different ideas. Maybe later on in more development we may change something.

• Shot of femme fatale - crying, distressed, hands on face, from a highish angle at an almost side profile angle - as if from the corner of a room but as high of an angle - TITLE OVER TOP.
• Femme fatale looks up - past camera, eyes still.
• Close up of woman's face.
• Flashback to her in bar/café with two friends - table in view, drink and the shoulders of her two friends either side. Facial expression - none, looking into nothing - 'sense of being trapped' - camera zooms out; see one of her friends putting on her make up - one talking to our femme fatale. Shot stays for a few seconds.
• Shot of friends exiting café, kissing goodbye
• Close up shot of our femme fatale saying good bye to her last friend - kissing her on cheek - she catches a glimpse of something.
• Eye line match - our anti hero, standing up against wall, smoking - possibly a tilt, from foot to head.
• Possible close up of different features on our anti-hero - clothing, oil stains on vests.
• Close up of mouth smoking and blowing smoke. 
• Close up of eyes
• Shot of friend leaving our femme fatale - in view; her chest upwards, on one side of frame, her friend walking off in distance on other.
• Long shot of her standing on cobbled street - she catches herself, establishing her femme fatale character once more.
• Moving object shot - femme fatale walking into the shot past our anti-hero still up against wall.
• Shot from anti-heroes eyes, watching our femme fatale walk past.
• Shot of femme fatale from in front, seeing her intentionally ignore anti-hero and rummage in her bag, walking quickly.
• Shot of lighter falling.
• Close up as lighter hits floor - slow motion.
• Long shot, as if from the café entrance, looking onto where femme fatale has just walked - anti hero in view, picking up what femme fatale has dropped and in distance, femme fatale walking away still rummaging in bag.
• Shot of femme fatale rummaging in bag, gets out cigarette holder and looks for lighter.
• Shot of anti-hero; bent on floor. 
• Shot from other side of anti-hero standing up [camera moves up as he does] and lights cigarette with lighter - taking another toke on his cigarette - puts lighter in pocket - beginning to walk quickly away from camera and towards femme fatale.
• Shot from front of him walking towards us with femme fatale in view - ''this yours miss?'' - see femme fatale half turn.
• Shot from side profile [long shot] - seeing his hand outstretched handing her lighter - she takes the lighter, lights her cigarette looks down at his feet.
• Tilt shot, showing femme fatale giving him the 'once over' - ends with shot of anti heroes face where he says: ''where you off to?''
• close up of femme fatales face - ''is it any of your business?''
• Shot of anti heros face - ''no but you can't blame a fella for being interested can you,'' - his eyes look over her.
• Close up of femme fatales face - ''What's your name?''
• Close up of anti heroes face - ''Your interested [grin], ######''
• Close up of femme fatales face - ''Oh, no, just being polite.''
• Close up of anti heroes face, - ''What's your name? See your not the only one with manners''
• Close up of femme fatales face - ''No? Well I've got things to do, I might see you around.''
• Long shot of femme fatale walking away from anti-hero.
• Close up of anti hero - takes a toke on his cigarette and looks away to the side of him - an intended way of making him look as though he's not interested but seeing if anyone's seen what's just happened.
• Close up of femme fatales face walking away - a toke on her cigarette and a smile.

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Our own touch to film noir.

Although we want to keep the stereotypes of the anti-hero and femme fatale, we want to add our own touch of neo-noir and modernise it. This way, it will fit in with the location and also the editing of our opening title sequence. The location is going to be a typical old cobbled street with very little lighting but we may also film inside a pub, conventionally you would probably see them in a diner or a small cafe. With our editing, we are adding in different transitions and techniques such as, fade ins and fade outs, slow motion and adding the black and white contrast in later on.

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Our Presentation of our concept board.

VIDEO PROJECT PRESENTATION 1 from fLIX.TV on Vimeo.

16-11-10 We present our concept board

Today me and my group were going to present our concept board to the rest of the class. We would be recorded which then will enable us to upload this to our blog to keep track of our progress. Even though each of us were assigned to a specific part of the concept, we put it all together in one big presentation. We hope that it went well and that we will soon be provided with an appropriate critic and some pointers that we can work on!

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My groups prezi's.

Copy of Concept Board - target market on Prezi

Copy of Sound & Characters Concept Board on Prezi

Copy of Concept Board-Camera Shots and Typography on Prezi

Melissa focused in detail on our target market, Kieron focused on the sound and character, and Jessica looked at camera angles and shots. All of these are a vital part of our concept board.

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This is my part to the concept board. I have researched the mise-en-scene, the mood and the ambience that will go into our film noir concept.

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EVIDENCE

Here are two examples of me and Kieron doing each of our assigned tasks. I had to research costume and Kieron was doing camera shot examples from other films.

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MY GROUP

I have decided to work with these 3 people because I get on very well with them and we all have the same interests. Our ideas vary but I know they will come together well.

Melissa Bartram - http://asmediastudiesmelissabartram.blogspot.com
Kieron Marchese - http://asmediastudieskieronmarchese.blogspot.com/
Jessica White - http://asmediastudiesjessicawhite.blogspot.com/

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What has to be on my concept board

Title
Genre - Film Noir
Plot - Order/Structure of the narrative
Narrative - Story
Cast - Character, Representation (style,props,costume), Accents, Mannerisms
Conventions - Established or expected rules of genre
Mise-en-scene
Camera - Shot, pace, angle, transitions
Signifier/Icon
Set
Connotation - Suggestion/meaning/implied
Denotation - Emphasised/explicit/factual/stated
Sound - Diegetic/non-diegetic, effect, synchronous/asynchronous, foleying, contrapunctal,
Ambiance/Atmosphere
Mood
Style
Target Audience - Demographics (factual data, preferred audience)

This is a list of the essential ideas that will go into my concept board. A selection of these will be deligated to each person in my group. My selection is mise-en-scene. I will be looking at the costumes/props, location and lighting. A lot of research will go into my part of the concept board and I will make sure I state what research I have done. Our concept board will be done on Prezi so as each of us our doing a separate one we must make sure that each relevant idea is covered.

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I like this blog..

This week we got told to look at other A Level blogs, pick one we liked and say why we liked it. I had a look through the majority and came across this blog (LINK IS BELOW).
http://meganasmediablog.blogspot.com/

The reason I liked Megan's blog is because she added a lot of humour and personality to it. All her work is completely up to date and relevant but I love how she made it her own. It looks completely different to all of the other blogs I looked at. I aim to keep my blog up to date and looking nice just as she has. This is definitely a blog that will help me throughout the mind blocks may get.

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Prezi #2

This is my prezi on the two main representations and stereotypes in film noir. I began to experiment more with the format and overall design to create a more interesting presentation.

10 film noir stills

These are 10 film noir stills that I have selected over various websites. These all show the characteristics of the film noir genre.

"Film Noir" What is it?

Film noir (French for 'black film') was first represented with Hollywood crime dramas. This was first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946. They're known for their high contrast black and white visual style and they are usually melodramatic. The film noir carried out through the 1940s to the late 1950s. 
Most moods of the film noir were very pessimistic. Characters were always seen as desperate with a sense of fatalism and menace. Tones are usually bleak with low key lighting.

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How 'I Am Legend' conventional or unconventional?

Watching the exposition of 'I am Legend', we had to concentrate on whether it had the typical conventions of an exposition. First of all, it starts off with what  sounds like they are running audio and no clip, it then looks like archive footage of a news programme, it gives what you think is a basic plot (they've cured cancer), and then it just goes silent with some non-diegetic sound. Diegesis and archive footage are typical conventions of an exposition but further through, you hear nothing but silence. The silence however, amplifies the contrast. They also show an establishing shot of New York City. The only way you can tell is the yellow cabs. The yellow cabs are a clear symbol of New York. This is also what is part of the mise-en-scene.

In some ways the exposition of 'I am Legend' is unconventional. The exposition takes ages to really get a story going which is called breaking. Also, there are no titles to explain what the film is called, who directed it, and who is even in it. However, we all know Will Smith doesn't need an introduction. If they did have titles, it would take away the engagement which means that we would forget the realism of the film. Overall, I think that the exposition is a mixture and it's hard to tell whether it's conventional or not. Others may have a different opinion but that's how I see it.

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Me and Media

Well, long story short, I LOVE MEDIA. Doing media in GCSE has given me that extra boost into my AS level. I've heard that it is so much harder, but I'm prepared to try my hardest. The media and fashion are my biggest dream and I aspire to achieve that dream. I got through media studies GCSE very well. Without bragging, hello A grade coursework ;) hahaha. But I hope by doing this in A Levels that it will get me the qualifications I need. I really want to work more in the publishing side of media, for example, magazine editing etc. So far in media I have created a documentary about 'teenage pregnancy', a crime drama and magazine and billboard adverts. Basically, I'm going to try my hardest, because media is one of my most important subjects. ENJOY!

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