Evaluation
Adorno and Horkheimer’s theory applies to hip-hop music, as the products that are created by institutions are consistent, inauthentic, and repetitive. This can be shown throughout a variety of artists who create hip-hop genre music, as usually, the songs and their videos are centered around money/materials, violence (guns)/murder and girls.
`We Media` is a concept produced by Dan Gillmor in 2004, in which we wrote a book about the concept called `we the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the people for the People`. The concept can be defined as; Media Democracy, therefore the definition centres itself on, how consumers are now able to choose how to consume and distribute media, without the use of major media corporations. A clear example of this; is somebody creating a blog and writing their about their opinions on an election or war, that is currently taking place.
`We Media` offer a method of producing and distributing a person’s own media, without the pressure of the regulatory bodies, enforcing ethical and moral regulations. This is because, at the time of writing, there is no regulatory body for the internet, thus this allows for users to be to place their own artefacts on to the internet.
I firmly believe that `Web 2.0` has enabled the ability for the user to feel the full force of `We Media`, due to Web 2.0 being about how the user interface has now changed, from not only just receiving information, but also being able to produce their own opinions on this information, and re-distribute it, hence creating the ability for opinions to be shared online, discussions to be created, and alas more opinions formed, due to the re-distribution.
Due to the non-existence of Geographical bias, the internet has enabled a new and more technologically updated method of creating a democratic society worldwide. An example of this would be the US Presidential Election in 2008. It was clearly shown during the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, where users worldwide, flooded their opinions onto articles relating to the candidates for presidency.
Another clear example could also be the Iranian Presidential Elections in 2009, which were widely reported that the current regime had rigged the democratic elections, within their favour. This resulted in many internet users, producing a backlash through protests and the use of slander tactics, such as; creating a conspiracy, about the use of unfair tactics in order to keep control of the national presidency.
Whereas, `We Media` can also delve into the elimination of hidden messages/bias/propaganda in media products. For instance, if an amateur media producer produces a media article, then this exempts the use of propaganda from mass media corporations, being used within the media article. Thus, hindering the `Hypodermic Needle` theory, useless, as We Media enables the audience to be able to pick the source of where their information is distributed from, thus allowing for a more fair and democratic opinion to be formed for the user, rather than that, what is formed via the mass media corporations.
An example of this could be the event of 9/11, where footage was created by the general public, who had quickly turned into amateur camera personnel, who coincidentally were there, in order to film the atrocity happen. Thus, because the large news/media corporations were not there in order to film it precisely as it happened, they heavily relied on the footage that was sold to them, by these `grassroots journalists`. Hence, by doing so, this reduced the chances of propaganda or footage being noticeably edited, whilst also allowing the searching audiences to have the actual footage on their handheld devices.
I believe you could use the long-tail theory in this concept, as we are quite clearly able to see that the demand for products that are formed by mass media corporations are being massively reduced, whilst the demand for products made by the user, are on the increase, due to users feeling that they have a varied choice of sources.
However, the ‘We Media` concept cannot be used in other countries that are economically worse off, or that are under a dictator political regime. In order for the `We Media` concept to occur, the users must be able to have access to the internet, whilst also have the small unregulated ability in order to be able to participate with the concept itself.
In conclusion, `We Media`, I believe has shifted the power from the mass-marketing media corporations, to the people. It has enabled the users to be able to democratically choose the source of information in which they wish to receive from, whilst also allowing room, for the user to become a producer/source of this information as well. I firmly believe, that the `We Media` concept has been based on solely on the well-being of the western countries economies, thus not taking into account the lack of internet accessibility in impoverished countries (I.e. Ethiopia) . However, I firmly believe that the future of the `We Media` concept will eventually slip into the eastern side of the world’s culture (if there are political changes, then this will make an embrace a lot quicker and easier). I also believe that as soon as the globe embraces the use of Web 3.0, then the concept may not be so widely-regarded.
Film Analysis
This type of research is to be used in order for us to investigate the typical conventions of a crime genre production. Hence by doing this, we are also able to select iconic scenes that are memorable to the audience, and how certain micro elements aid in fulfilling the atmosphere required to make a production successful.
S.M.A.R.T. Targets – 02/11/2010
Specific - To accumulate secondary research based on previous Crime films, and evaluate their importance towards the production of our Video, as well as understanding their micro and macro elements that portray a particular atmosphere towards the audience.
Measureable - By completing a miniature report for each film, that has been used for our secondary research.
Achieveable – Create a report that identifies and evaluates particular elements that have encapsulated various audiences, and understand them, so that they can be applied to our production.
Realistic – This target can be achieved as we have the resources available (e.g. the Internet, DVD’s) to compile our secondary research and the assistance if we were to have any queries.
Time-Managed – This target should be completed by the end of this lesson (double session or 02/11/2010)
Crime Film Analysis
First off, I’ve not gone into great detail about the elements of `The Godfather`, as we made a decision as a partnership, that we were more heading into the path of a modern-day look on the crime genre, thus we decided to go with Martin Scorsese’s `Goodfellas` from 1990.
Secondary Research
S.M.A.R.T. Targets - 14/12/2010
Specific -To understand the construction of short films, posters and film magazine reviews and also studying them to analyse specific elements and conventional themes to identify how to construct these medias successfully.
Measurable – How I can take certain inspirations and conventions and apply them to the media that I plan to produce, and justify why I am doing so.
Achieveable - I plan to know that I have achieved this by clearly understanding (through the use of resources) what makes a successful media (whether it be a film production, film magazine review or poster), and the critics that have been received for those medias.
Realistic – This task can be completed as we have the resources and assistance required, and I know which type of resources I need to research into for all three of my potential projects.
Time-Managment – I am currently giving myself two weeks (six hours overall) to research the resources and compile a report.
Production Logs
04/01/11 – 10/01/11
Today, we created a production schedule, which allowed us to build up a timetable that would be suitable due to the scale of the task, and the deadline that would be set. We did this for each individual task and placed it onto a weekly basis. We then listed the resources we would require in order to complete the tasks and a deadline for when it needs to be completed.
By creating a schedule of production, we were able to plan out all of our deadlines, and it gave us a general idea of what we would start to film. It also enabled us to keep continuity to a minimum as we were able to film it in the order that we felt was most efficient.
After we had completed the production schedule, we began to draft up a script, that had some ideas from our Primary Research `Goodfellas`. After completing the final script, we then typed it up into a professionally structured script, and placed the descriptions of the locations, emotions of the characters and the camera shot types and angles that would be used in the production, into the script.
After that, we then went on to produce the Storyboards, abiding by what we had decided to use when we produced the script, thus giving us a visual aid. This would then also list the shit types and the timing of each shot. Thus, when we could come round to shooting the production, we would be more organized, to see how successful the footage would turn out to be.
After college, I then went to try and take some images of the `Kings Head Inn`, however they said I was not allowed permission to do so, as the area that I want to capture images of, is full of customers. Therefore, they said that I shouldn’t take any images whilst customers are there, just in case it disturbs them.
I then went home, in order to take pictures of the location that would showcase the house scene. Thus, this was much easier to do, as this was my own home, meaning that I didn’t need to get any permission to take photographs of it.
11/01/11 – 17/01/11
This morning, before college, we decided to go and do location scouting for the office scene. I took a few pictures and these should be written up in a report by the end of next session.
We then created three site plans, for the three different locations we were going to be filming at. Thus, by drawing up these plans on a computer, we were able to show the designated camera positions and prop placements that would need be too used for our production. It also contained possible hazards and fire escapes for Health and Safety. Thus, it was also important, so that we could be organized in how both our actors and props would be situated in the location.
We also then went on to further talk about the safety procedures, if the worst was to happen. This meant in turn, we then created and complete a Risk Assessment form, and made this available to all of our actors (including myself), so that they would be prepared in case a health & safety hazard should arise.
After completing the risk assessment, we then created a `Hypothetical` budget spreadsheet, which in turn meant that we had to research quotes based on the various equipment and operating personnel we would need, for our production. We looked to gather the cheapest and most effective quotes for our resources, in order to present them in our treatment.
18/01/11 – 24/01/11
Today, we wrote up our treatment which consisted of justifying our product, discussing various elements (such as; Narrative, Target Audience, Budget, Completion Date, Running Time) as this would be needed in order to gather any investment for production. We intentionally wrote this treatment in order to promote the progression of our ideas into a working production. The document finally finished should have covered all of the aspects that a potential investor would need, in order to make a decision in whether our film would be a worthy investment.
We then finished off our pre-production, by completing all of the release (both Talent and Location), in order to cover all legal aspects. We then also provided Call sheets to the appropriate actors, and told them how to dress specifically for the production. By making sure that we have filled these documents in appropriately is key as we wanted to make sure that we had the rights to do the actions we wanted for filming this production.
After college, I then went home, and compiled a report on my location scouting, which can now be found under the pre-production post on my blog.
25/01/11 – 31/01/11
This week, we began filming Scene three, which involved me and Darren. We filmed in the `King’s Head Public House`, in North Weald, Essex. This location was chosen as we thought it could create a sense of verisimilitude through a strong aura of Mise-en-scene, typically showing crime lords drinking alcohol in a bar/club. During this production, we had a greater understanding of filming the production, as we had previous experiences with our two previous productions from last year. Thus, this experience enabled us to be able to create `smoother` camera angles and shot types. However, this was our first time in using a boom microphone, thus this lack of experience showed, as the sound levels of that scene are not very good. We thought this may lead us in having better sound quality, but due to our lack of experience, this left us with not so good sound quality. However, we intend to amend this during post-production (Editing), by using a variety of other sounds that could be used to lighten the problem (i.e. Music).
Overall, the filming of the scene went well, and it was very well filmed, thus our organization was key today. We’re just looking through the footage at the moment, and there appears to be no continuity throughout the scenes whatsoever, which is something we have greatly improved on this time round.
01/02/11 – 07/02/11
This week we shot our First, Third and Fifth scene in an office in Epping (Nicholsons Estate Agents, Epping), thus allowing us to create a strong sense of verisimilitude and add a sense of realism to our production.
This time, we were a lot more aware of the Boom Microphone, thus we made sure the settings for the sound were appropriate for the scene. This day of filming was particularly time-consuming as it meant we had to take many `Takes` and `Cuts` for each scene. This was either down to and a bad camera shot or because of the Actor’s desire to deviate from the script.
Another issue we had today during filming was the lack of natural light. Because the office window faces itself away from the sun, this meant that our footage did not come out in the colours we hoped. However, this wasn’t such as a bad thing, as it enabled the production to be a lot more sincere and negative. Thus in comparison, this could be noticeable with our other potential scenes, but if this is to be a problem, then I’m sure we would be able to lower the contrast of some of the other scenes.
15/02/11 – 21/02/11
Today we started we managed to start the editing and got a fair amount of the post-production done (organising the narrative). We had a few difficulties with getting used to Final Cut Pro (after nearly a year of not using it), and we had noticed a few continuity errors during the basic building of the narration (placing the scenes in logical order), thus we also had to contend with the task of creating obvious parallel editing.
However, one problem we did have was the constant requirement to render the edited footage, required by the editing software that we were using. Thus, prompting us to restart the process of the editing more than once, which resulted in us having to spend more time on doing the work we had just done, or waiting for the rendering to be complete, so that we could continue editing our raw footage.
I felt today, went alright in terms of progress, but not so much as I had hoped. However, this may not have been helped much, due to the both of us getting back to using Final Cut Pro, as it felt completely different, and I felt we struggled a bit with it at first. However, we were soon able to recuperate the skills we had learnt from last year, and by doing so, we were able to get rid of the continuity mistakes in our footage.
22/02/11 – 28/02/11
Today we began designing our film poster. This meant drawing a conventional using a pencil. This was primarily used this way, as it meant that we would be able to alter the design if we weren’t too happy with the initial idea. We created two posters that were centred around a conventional format similar to that of our Primary Research on `The Dark Knight` and `Goodfellas`.
We then created a design on Photoshop CS3, thus allowing us to produce a more effective estimated poster design. This was created with the use of colours, something which the previous design did not use. This was used in order to show a `rough` visual aid, in to what a poster may look like in the end.
Throughout the production of the film poster, I have collected various images of each stage of the production of the media product, and thus I have compiled a report that illustrates and elaborates how we managed to do certain stages in order to produce the poster. This can be found in its own category on my blog.
29/02/11 – 07/03/11
Today we created our final product of our film poster. This meant following our design drafts from last week and applying the appropriate images to them. As far as things went, this went really well, as we had previously organised the general structure of the poser anyway, thus allowing us to be able to use our time efficiently.
I believe the only problem we had during the production of this poster, was the accuracy of the Magnetic Lasso and the eraser. Thus, with our inexperience, we eventually learnt how to erase some of the parts of the main image, which we deemed unnecessary.
08/03/11 – 14/03/11
Today we had a bit of a mad rush, and we felt we were behind on schedule. Thus, by doing so we were able to create three designs of the film magazine. This meant we drew three separate stages of designs for the review, a basic conventional one, a more detailed sketched one, and one that was computer produced through the use of Photoshop CS3.
We then went on to complete the structure and decor of the magazine, but we had no time to complete the review. However, I have clearly outlined an available time for when I shall complete the review for. Apart from the obvious time strain that we felt, I felt that today went relatively well, even if the production was not completely finished.
Throughout the production of the film magazine review, I have collected various images of each stage of the production of the media product, and thus I have compiled a report that illustrates and elaborates how we managed to do certain stages in order to produce the magazine review itself. This can be found in its own category on my blog.
15/03/11 – 21/03/11
This week, meant we could film our final scene, which only involved one actor, Darren. This scene, was the easiest scene of them all to film, as we were in a private property (my house), thus giving us as much filming time that we needed. The only difficulty we had was attempting to synchronise our footage, with the footage on the television, in order to make it appear realistic. Despite this scene having no dialogue, and only one actor, it was much more easier to film, as we had already an idea of where we were going to shoot (site plans), and it involved us producing a lot less takes than our last filming time. The time we spent filming, was massively reduced, as were able to take longer shots of the character or the TV set, thus allowing us the ability to be able to cut between shots whenever we preferred for post-production. Thus, this worked like a dream, as it worked well in our Production Schedule, meaning we felt a lot less time-strained for our this production and our other two productions.
We filmed the footage in our own time, whilst in class we uploaded all of the footage, and continued with our Edit Decision List (EDL), in order to organise the useable clips from the non-useable clips. We used the storyboards and the script; in order to keep our narrative and footage in relation with the script and storyboards we had produced, thus keeping us on the trail of our plans. This would be crucial in producing an organized film production which showed careful planning, throughout the development, production and editing stages.
We began the editing of our footage, the same as last time, by dragging the clips we wanted to use into the timeline. We used the manual fade in, to start off the film, in which we used the `Pen` tool to create the opening of the film in a conventional style. We then used the `Desaturated` effect, and changed it to 100% in order to establish the tense of the film, thus it being a flash-forward.
The recorded sound (recorded by the boom microphone) was not very realistic (as it was a BB gun), thus, this meant we had to search and find a copyright-free source in order to supply ourselves with a `realistic` sound of gun fire. We eventually found one called www.freesounds.com, and imported it into our editing software, so that we could apply it on the timeline to reflect a sense of verisimilitude for our piece. We then increased the level of dB whenever the protagonist (Darren) ever fired his gun, thus allowing us to apply an additional convention into our production, by allowing us to increase his position of power within the footage.
For the rest of the lesson, we worked on refining the rest of the production, by cutting specific parts of the footages, and applying effects, etc. Fortunately for us, there wasn’t a large quantity of clips to process through, thus reducing the overall time our editing, to a great extent. Throughout the second scene of the production, there were three points, that we had to apply a cross dissolve, in order to show the passing of time for our footage, thus allowing us to keep the scene flowing, without any hesitation, as this could lead to the production being potentially tedious for our audience. We then used the `Desaturated` effect at 50% to dim down the colour of the scene, much to the style of Tarantino’s `Reservoir Dogs` and Scorsese’s `Goodfellas`.
However, we did encounter one problem, which was the sound setting that was used for the recording of the second scene. It appears that the boom microphone settings were set to static, thus, it wasn’t set to the correct settings (this was down to our inexperience in using a Boom Microphone). Hence, this meant we had to cut the sound in certain parts of the scene, and reduce the dB to -6, in order to attempt to keep a consistency for the sound throughout. After applying some much added work to the sound, we then went throughout the rest of the footage, to make sure that the sound levels were consistent.
22/03/11 – 28/03/11
This session involved us just brushing up on Editing of the production, by making sure going through the production, in a inspective fashion, in order to notice any continuity mistakes, whilst also applying copyright-free sounds and music onto the production. We also had to apply certain transitional effects, in order to make sure the narrative and the production, ran more smoothly.
Today’s progress wasn’t extremely far, but it had to be time-consuming as we felt that we should not be able to miss a thing, thus allowing no room for mistakes or amateurish concepts that may have appeared in our production.
29/03/11 – 04/04/11
Today was our penultimate session to get everything in. Thus, we had another mad rush, as we had to get everything ready for our audience response group (Focus Group). I firstly wrote a rough draft for the review, and then made a final one, thus then going on to Photoshop and applying the review to the Film Magazine review. We had to make additional changes to the layout of the magazine, by deleting two of the text boxes, and increasing the scale of Cory’s image, whilst also applying a stand first at the top of the review. We had to delete two of the text boxes, and expanded the others to an equal amount, as our review would have been too long.
I then produced the questionnaires for our respondents to fill in, about all three of our media product.
For the second session of the day, I then went on to start my evaluation of our three media productions. This then resulted in me finishing them after-college. However, the evaluation should hopefully be adequate enough in terms of justifying our actions, and being critical of our project as a whole, by using various figures drawn from our initial research and our focus groups researched, that has been surveyed and analysed today.
05/04/11 – 08/04/11
Today was our final session to get everything ready for our deadline. Therefore, today I produced and completed the audience response analysis, and applied the charts and graphs into my work, whilst also applying a commentary on each question, individually.
I then read through my evaluation for any spelling and grammatical errors, and also spoke about some of the media theories that I have learnt during my time in this subject. Some of these theories were; Male Gaze, Todorov’s Narrative Structure theory and Uses and Gratifications theory, just to name a few.
I then went through the rest of my blog to make sure everything was there, and up to date. This resulted in me, editing my development diary for the film magazine, as I needed to add some theories into that as well.
At the end of the session, I personally felt everything went well. I felt I knew what I had to do, enabling me to organise myself, and organise the resources that I needed in order to complete the tasks that were still outstanding.
The History of Crime Genre Films
History of Crime Genre Films
Crime genre films are one of the oldest genre films around. One of the first ever (recorded) crime genre films was Griffith’s `The Musketeers of Pig Alley` in 1912, centring itself on the narrative of `organised crime`. It’s key to note, that this wasn’t the first film of a crime genre ever made, but it is truly a significant one, as it broke the conventions of what was `then` a typical crime genre film. It broke many conventions because it used violence, and its theme was that of organised crime.
Then came along Garnett’s Bad Company in 1931, which was the first ever film to have portrayed the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, in which seven capos who were allegedly murdered by the infamous Al Capone. Thus, this broke another typical convention, as the crime genre, attempted to make itself narrative and reputation realistic with the audience.
1959 was the legendary year that the film `Al Capone` was released. By doing so, it followed the autobiographical story of the once-powerful man himself, offering the audience the chance to delve into the extravagant yet violent life, of one of history’s most powerful gangsters.
Then in 1972, Francis Ford Coppola gave the crime genre audiences, a master class in crime genre material with `The Godfather`. But it didn’t stop there, as the legendary Coppola gave us `Godfather II` (1974) and `Godfather III` (1990). However, it was famed for its showing of the organised crime life, to be like some sort of hierarchy/family, in which it picked up multiple awards, some of which were; Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards, just to name a few.
The 1980’s and 1990’s were notorious for crime genre films. Scarface (1983) directed by Brian De Palma, took a different light on the crime lifestyle, as it showed the uprising and downfall of a young determined Cuban immigrant, attempting to live the harsh realities of the American Dream.
Then in 1990, the legendary film `Goodfellas` made by a certain Martin Scorsese, followed the uprising and downfall (once again) of a young child who wants to follow into the family of the Mafioso. However, this isn’t about making money, but about making a reputation of himself, thus it being a long-life dream for him. Thus, now breaking the convention again, showing that some people may dream of becoming a crime lord.
Then came long `L4yer Cake` in 2004, directed by Matthew Vaughn. This was a highlight film of the early 2000’s as it changed the approach of crime genre films massively. This was because; previous films dedicated themselves to family, loyalty, and violence. Whereas `L4yer Cake` has adapted more dynamically by focusing itself on multiple layers of narrative, whilst also focusing itself on the modern day social problem, Drugs.
In conclusion, the crime genre like everything else in film, has transformed magnificently since Griffith’s `The Musketeers of Pig Alley` in 1912. It’s important to realise, that these genre films, are quickly heading in a new direction, Drugs. Judging pre-Scarface, the films were usually carrying a theme of about loyalty and business, but it appears that films such as `L4yer Cake` (2004) are now making crime films shape itself into a new form of movies.
Pre-production Documents
Below are pictures of our siteplans. This is in order to aid us in producing the most ideal camera shots, angles and types and also allows us to make filming a lot more easier and planned during the day of production. Hence, by planning for our camera shots and distances, the actors and fellow production team will be able to know where important features such as; where the characters sit, fire exits, etc.
House scene Siteplan
Office Scene Siteplan
Pub Scene Siteplan
Below is the budget we created, that would be accurate on terms of the levels of finance we would need, if we were to produce this film for a production/distribution company. Hence, with the levels of finance we would need to produce the film, would mean that we would have to have heavy investment. Thus because we are currently using the establishment’s equipment, this would mean that these would be the figures taken from various renters/sellers of the equipment, if we were to re-produce this film in order to make profit.
Budget Sheet Page 1
Budget Sheet Page 2
Budget Sheet Page 3
Budget Sheet Page 4
Film Poster
This post was created in order to show the construction of our Film Poster. It starts off highlighting the individual stages of designing the media product, then producing the product, and how I did them. Then each stage will conclude, with a justification for why I added these features, therefore showing my knowledge and reasons for applying conventional and unconventional elements to this marketing product.
Above is the image of the final version my poster!
Film Magazine Review
This post was created in order to show the construction of our Film Magazine Review. It starts off highlighting the individual stages of designing the product, whilst further on, going onto the details of how and why we produced the article in the ways that we did. It will also show the method, and the tools that we had used in order to produce our review piece.
Film Magazine Review Development Log
The Final Product...
