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

Overall, our piece of film very much conforms to the conventions of a film opening. At the end of the opening, we state the time and location of the current moment in the film, with the writing on the screen saying ‘Sterling, March 6 2007’. We also use a close up of a clock in our opening, stating to the audience the time of the scene, and from the lighting they can presume that it is midnight as opposed to midday. The fact that this is written on the screen makes the audience very much aware that the film is set in America, and has taken place in the past of when the film is released. We chose to write the date as ‘March 6 2007’ as it is the way in which Americans would write it, instead of writing it in a way that British people would, as we thought this may start to confuse audiences. In order to further emphasize the fact that the film is set in America, we placed a ‘Butterfinger’ wrapper, and a ‘Hershey’s’ wrapper on the desk, which is clearly visible in one of the shots, as it is a typical American form of candy.

In our film opening, we also wanted to introduce one of the main characters to the audience, however we wanted to do this in a way that built enigma – another convention on film openings – by not revealing him too quickly, yet hinted about his personality and character throughout. Through our choice of shots, we never revealed the entirety of the protagonist – Peter’s – body and face, as we wanted the audience to interpret the character in their own ways, before they completely found out about him. We chose to include items around the bedroom in our opening by using close up shots of them, to hint at Peter’s personality. We used a close up of some DVD’s, including ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’, as we wanted to create this idea that Peter is quite ‘nerdy’, something that people typically tend to get bullied for, foreboding to the rest of the film. We also used a close up of a pile of books on a cabinet, which included titles such as ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, reinforcing the idea of Peter being quite ‘geeky’. We chose to include a book titled ’11.22.63’, which to those in the know would be related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. We chose to include this as we felt it was a very subtle way of initially portraying the concept of shootings, because most people wouldn’t pay particular attention to the titles of the books used in the shot, but to those who do notice, they will feel like they know something that no one else does.

Main Task - 'Nineteen Minutes' - Final Cut

Main Task - Shooting Journal - Post Production - White Noise

Once we were happy with all of the footage we had filmed during our shoot day, we as a group were ready to start editing the footage using an application on the Mac's called Final Cut Pro.
As soon as we started to edit, we noticed a problem that would take some time and perseverance to fix. During the filming, we had decided not to record any sound due to the fact we had no dialogue, and we were going to be placing a soundtrack on top of the footage anyway, so we thought we didn't need it. However, once we started to piece the sequence together with the music on top, we realised it sounded slightly odd, so we would need 'white noise' all the way through the film, just so it sounded real, because without the white noise it sounded very fake. We had to search through all of the sound from the footage in order to find some suitable 'white noise', so that the footage would sound more life like, as there is always noise in films.
Once we had found some 'white noise' in some of our footage, we simply copied and pasted it all along our timeline so that there was 'white noise' throughout the entire sequence. Once we had inserted this sound into our opening, it immediately sounded a lot more realistic, as the film itself was no longer completely silent. 

Main Task - Shooting Journal - Post Production - Typing

Another problem we faced was the fact that we wanted to have the titles all typed out on the screen, but this sound would have to be recorded after the visuals had been created, so as a group, we had the very tedious task of trying to match the sound of the typing with the typing that was actually happening on the screen. It was very difficult to do, as each of the titles had typing at different speeds, so we weren't able to just use the same sound from each of the title screens.

Also, we knew that the keys on a keyboard tend to all make slightly different sounds, so we needed to make the sound realistic by using different keys on the keyboard. This took a very long duration of time, as we had several different title screens that we needed to do the same process to, so it became a very repetitive job.

When inserting the sound of the typing, we forgot to lock the other layers of sound, so we ended up having all of the sound moving around, which took quite a lot of time to move back to the original placing.

However, once we managed to do it, it gave us the effect that we had hoped it would, so although it was a long process, it was very worthwhile as it made it look and sound just like we had hoped it would.

Main Task - Shooting Journal - Production

When we finally reached the shoot day, we knew we were going to have problems when it came to the tracking shot due to the size of the room, and also the available space to move inside the room. We came to the shoot day equipped with a steady cam which all of our group were very new to using. However, after several attempts with the steady cam, we decided to scrap the use of it, and make the most of what we had around us at the shoot location.
Fortunately, we managed to find a small skateboard that gave us the possibility of placing the tripod on top of the skateboard, as we didn't have the budget to create a track for a camera dolly to travel along on, so our easiest, and only alternative was to place it on household object with wheels; the skateboard.
This was very much a balancing act, and involved us watching the camera very carefully to ensure of no damage to the camera. As a group, we were concerned that using this method to record the tracking shot would cause it to be out of focus, and very wobbly. However, when we watched back the footage of the tracking shot, we realised that it was pretty smooth, all things considered.

Another problem we encountered was the severe lack of space we had on location due to 5 members of cast and crew being on set at all times, along with all of the camera equipment, as well as a large desk which played an important part of our set.  Although it was a struggle, and involved being people quite cramped into small spaces in an attempt to film, we managed to get there in the end, even if we were a bit tired, having moved out of the way of other people all day!

Main Task - Props Research

Although we had a location that was a genuine teenage boys bedroom, we wanted to choose carefully the props that would go in the room to make Peter's personality clear.
From researching about the book, we were aware that the story was set in a small American town, so we wanted to make that clear to the audience. In order to do this, we chose to place some half eaten American sweets, including Hersey's chocolate, on his desk, alongside a can of Monster. We also chose to have an old bowl of cereal on the desk to show how he is very secluded, yet still a typical teenager, because teenagers seem to hate the idea of tidying up.
Also, due to the fact the entire novel is based around a shooting in a school, we wanted to start to plant clues and hints to the synopsis of the film by including a pin board which featured a selection of
newspaper articles about shooting, particularly those that have happened in schools in America, to reinforce to the audience the country in which the film is set.

Props:

• DVD’s (Star Trek, Superman, Doctor Who, X-Men etc.)
• Bin (which is overflowing)
• Laptop
• Laptop Mouse
• Chair
• Desk
• Metal Frame Bed
• Pot of Pencils
• Desk Lamp
• Dirty Socks
• Bowl of old, uneaten cereal
• Monster Energy Drink
• Books (fiction, non-fiction)
• Superman tin lunch box
• Black dressing gown
• Clock
• American sweet wrappers
• Newspaper cuttings (linked to shootings)
• Glasses
• Death Wish poster