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41. Rojal Myers, Cristian Bastidas, Ashley Fian-Richmond, Ismail Hashir from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Evalaution Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

A Film opening also establishes the storyline so that the viewer can have a understanding of what is going to happen. The opening of a film is constructed in a specific way so that productions companies, distributors and everyone who was involved in the film gets the recognition. Our filming opening isn't conventional for different reasons. One reason is the credits they don't go in the typical order of the credits, we put the the title at the end of the film as the bag blacks out the shot to create a dramatic effect. Another reason is they way we presented Ismail's character, Ismail doesn't look like a hooligan that loots, the way that he dressed suggests how he is being influenced by the wrong people. Unlike Ismail, I look like someoene who that would loot because of my stature, presented me wearing smart clothing and glasses shows how my character has common sense and knows right from wrong, where my character lives also goes aganist the stereotype  that teenagers living in gritty places always end out to be trouble as i'm better of from the body language i give off. The distribution of screen time also goes against the conventional film openings as Cristian's character doesn't get the most screen time even though its his actions has consequences for the others. Although  

La Haine Vs Jacked. by Slidely Slideshow

Evaluation : Q1. In What Ways Does My Film Opening Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products ?

Conventions are important to any film let alone a teen film. Conventions are there so the audience can relate and have a better understanding of a film. Within our film conventions were are main focus especially when it came to the title sequence and music comparing our sequence with our inspirations 'La Haine'.

Codes & Conventions

References

                        

References (Conventional shot types)

                                                          


Conventional Title Sequence

The first element to any teen film opening is the title credits. There is a conventional way which we expressed within our title opening. It starts with distribution, production, Actors, Casting, Costume, Music Supervisors, Photography, Editing and Director. When it comes to the title it’s up to you where you put it stereotypically it’s at the end but some people want the title first or in the middle. The whole concept and purpose of the title credits is to show who has helped and contributed to making the process from beginning to start. There are serious rules about the title sequence for example they must include everyone who helped in the process or else there could be consequences, for example, George Lucas was fined $250,000 by the Directors Guild of America for not putting the directors name in the opening credits.


Although 'Kidulthood' was not our main inspiration it is still an urban film which we could of looked to when it came to our title sequence. There are definitely similarities and differences.

Similarities

1. Distribution is 1st.
2. Production is 2nd.
3. The Title is Last (Gives a dramatic effect).

Differences 

1. Although actors in 'Kidulthood' are fourth ours come 2nd straight after distribution and production.
2. The director is 3rd for 'Kidulthood' where as ours is 2nd to last. 
3. They included who it was written by whereas we did not.

Title Sequence (Jacked)

Title Sequence (Kidulthood)

Evaluation Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?

The convention to a movie is used by the director as a form of hooking the audiences attention straight away. The beginning also allows the movie to express its genre and the audience will realize the theme of the movie. During the convention to a movie you are likely to see the protagonist or antagonist. Therefore the audience will be following the main character from the start in a normal movie; however some movies vary from beginning. Duration of movie beginning are around 2, but Hollywood blockbusters are more likely to have extended beginnings of 5 minutes or more. Conventions also credits ; production and distribution companies, directors , and main actor names.

Differences
Our movie still have some strict conventions, however are main difference is that our movie title is shown after 2 minutes after the movie begins instead of having the title shown straight away or straight after the beginning credits. Shank shows all of its credits and title at the beginning with no shots in the background. While in our movie actors and extras are credited whilst there is action on the screen.

Convention to Shank

  

Convention of Jacked

Similarities

• Both movies show distribution and production companies in order.
• The director in Shank and Jacked are last to be credited. 
• Both movies begin with a main actor running to create tension. 

Evaluation Q2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Q2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The theme and concept of our teen film opening was a crime/drama. The idea of our was inspired by the London 2011 Riots and the French film 'La Haine' directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. The purpose of a film opening is to clearly state or hint the genre of the film and give the audience an idea of what happens. Furthermore, depending on whether the opening is good or not, the action should capture the viewer making them want to watch the entire movie. Conventions for film openings consist of the characters being introduced, the narrative being hinted at, an important event will occur and the opening credits are shown.

To set up the opening to our film, we had to ensure the location was right and suited the film. As our film is a crime/drama, we decided to film in Hackney, East London which has a high crime rate.  Next, we made sure that we had effective close ups to capture the actors emotions and long shots/establishing shots to show off the run down environment. The editing is fast pace, matching the speed of the running and the hardcore adrenaline this opening begins with. We all used tracksuits and hoodies which usually have a negative connotation within society as it's clothing usually worn by those from gritty urban areas. For the smarter boy he wore a jumper with a white shirt beneath it, looking formal, giving off the impression he is an intelligent young man.

Film openings usually welcome the viewer and have idents from the distribution and production companies giving them credit. The purpose of having indents is so the companies can get recognised for their work. They also have a strict order of actors names and who was involved in creating the film. The title sequence puts names in order of importance, for instance the distribution is mentioned first and then the production company. After this, the actors names are shown and the other people who had a smaller role within the making of the film such as make up and costume. In our Ident we had a city landscape to match the urban/city like theme we were aiming for. The name 'Mural films' links to the mural in Hackney which was included in our film. For the distribution company, we had a circus tent spinning with the name 'Fun house distributions' as well this we had the sound of a running film in the background matching the motion of the tent spinning.

Jacked title seq - Video Maker

shank title seq - Video Maker

As shown by the 'Kizoa' slideshow above we have carefully stuck to these conventions in our film opening, for instance, in 'Shank' Revolver entertainment's (The Distributor) logo shows up first and in ours Fun House Distribution shows up first. Next to show up in Shank is the ident of the production company, Gunslinger. After this, they mention the distribution company and the production company once more but through text rather than a motion, for example 'Revolver Entertainment presents'. After that they introduce the first actor. This sequence was followed in my film as it is a common title sequence within movies.

Evaluation : Q2. How Does My Opening Scene Represent Particular Social Groups?

Evaluation Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

As we made our own distribution and production companies via motion 4, we decided to make them independent companies. This is because our story line is very similar to other British independent films such as Shank and Kidulthood. There are a few companies that suited our film and the concept of it such as Revolver Entertainment and Film 4.

These companies have distributed films such as Attack the Block, Kidulthood and Shank, which has a similar  story line to ours as they are modern urban drama. Revolver is known for producing urban films, so when their ident shows up at the beginning of a film people tend to know what they're going to expect.  An Independent company will go well with out teen film opening because independent companies allow the director to get their message across to their specific audience in the way that they film regardless of the budget. With our teen film we wanted our target audience to have a understanding of what is going on instead of creating a teen film that would appeal to everyone. 

Impact of Independent companies and how they relate to Jacked.

Revolver Entertainment

Revolver are experts in youth entertainment and know how to exploit physical and digital home entertainment. Having Revolver entertainment as the distributors for a film like Jacked can provide key ways or promoting the film on websites or places that our target audience use of go. They have also produced films such as ill manors and Shank which have the same concept, so they'll know what the need to do when to expand the audience. ill manors is an perfect example of Revolver Entertainment expanding the audience for an independent film as it received 2 awards. 

Studio Canal 

Studio Canal distributes on average 50 films a year throughout the whole of Europe, as well as that they operate in Australia and New Zeland. Having StudioCanal as a distributor for a film like Jacked can widen our target audience from 15-18 to possible an older audience because, they've done other films that have a similar story line such as Fast Girls, so people are used to seeing good quality films and will understand the message being put across from StudioCanal.

Impacts of having Independent companies making our film 

Having independent companies have major effects on the film. As its an independent film it means that we wont be able to have any major actors and actress. If the actor or actress isn't a major one, their wouldn't be much of appeal for it to be distributed worldwide, it would mainly be shown in limited about of cinemas nationwide and possible film festivals. Marketing will also would be on a low scale as it would only have a few social networking websites whereas a big budget film would have its own website, billboards, etc to advertise. However the film has positive impacts in being an independent film, this is because it will allow us to make a film that will express our message visually to the intended target audience, We wouldn't have to worry about making a film that would appeal to everyone and create something that has relevance to our lives. 

Evaluation: Q3. What Kind Of Media Institution Might Distribute My Film And Why?

Distribution is the process of launching a film into the market place and sustaining public interest in the film. Whereas the production company is responsibile for fundraising for the production. It handles budgeting, scheduling, scripting, casting, the organisation of staff, the production itself, post- production and marketing. 

When it comes to an institution it an Independent Film. As we were creating our own distribution and production companies we wanted it to be an independent company because of the comparison between our story-line and other films such as Bullet Boy and Kidulthood. We looked over each individual independent British distributor and found that the ones who most suited our story line were...

These film companies have distributed films such as Bullet Boy, Kidulthood and 4321. All these films are just like ours. Contemporary modern urban drama films. Although universal is not independent it still would be a great distributor as it is well known around the world for its quality of films. VivaVerve and Revolver have many urban films therefore will be experts on how our film would be exhibited. Since they have distributed classics when their trademark when shown our audience will automatically know what kind of film this will be without even looking at the the film itself. 

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Mural film by Mural film by Ashleigh_Richmond on GoAnimate
                                   

An independent company would best suite our teen film because independent films have normally but not always low budgets to work on and are more distinguishable by their content and how the film is made with a visual understanding. When it came to our opening we didn't want it to be 'what you see is what you get' it had to be educational. Independent distributors and produces allow our film to be targeted at our specific audience. However often independent distribution films often struggle to get more than £1 or £2 million budgets and consider a success to break even, with DVD after-sales included...

A low budget is a massive implication. Low budget can effect the process of the filming negatively for example with a low budget we would not be able to access CGI for the best effects to our film. However our film is an urban film therefore we wouldn't need to incorporate CGI as within urban dramas we don't see as much CGI as a fantasy film would have. The lack of money means there will less film awareness in terms of advertising, which means less 'hype' about the film which would lead to a low box office.

Evaluation Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

According to Google definitions "Representation means the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way". Our film opening focuses on teens who live in an urban area who were affected by the riots. We represented these teens in various ways. Through the decisions made by Noah and Vince to go out and steal electronics, their characters are automatically represented as irresponsible/unruly teenagers who don't take into consideration the lives of others.Through the use of Raheem, we have represented teenagers as mature and responsible, doing the right thing despite the tempting situation.

The character Noah, played by me, was running and had a very anxious/fidgety characteristic making him like the natural criminal. The character Vince, played by Cristian, was the one who used his intelligence for wrong, whereas Raheem, played by Rojal, used his intelligence to do the right thing by staying inside. Vince's body language, ordering Noah out made him as the one who took control of the situation but used his power for bad. Raheem was the stereotypical nerd with the glasses and the shirt under his sweater. Noah and Vince are represented in a negative aspect due to the unlawful decisions they make. Raheem was represented in a more positive light because of his decision to stay inside and not take part in the looting. In terms of costume, Noah and Vince wore dark clothes which give off negative connotations and the fact that they're both wearing hoodies fulfils the stereotype of them being bad reinforcing the idea that we get negative connotations from these characters.



Similar Characters from La Haine by Slidely Slideshow

As our film opening was inspired by the 2011 London Riots and Mathieu Kassovitz' 'La Haine' we found similarities of the different social groups to our characters. Said and Vincent from 'La Haine' are determined to riot whereas Hubert doesn't really want to. This relates to our film, as the two characters Noah and Vince loot, whereas Raheem stays at home. Although, Hubert from La Haine accompanies Said and Vincent anyway, the fact that he isn't entirely comfortable with the idea is enough to link to Raheem from our movie, 'Jacked'.

Below is an interview where I received feedback on representations of teenagers in 'Jacked'. From the feedback I received, I am now aware that we successfully represented Vince and Noah as the irresponsible boys and Raheem as the one who rejected that path.

Evaluation Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media produce and why?

We created our Distribution and Production company logos through Motion on the apple macs, This software allowed us to animate certain motions to create a little ident at the beginning of the film. This was a useful software to use as it had already templates that were easy to add text to. We chose to make our movies independent as our movie has similarities to movies such as SHANK and Bullet Boy. The urban independent movie has become a form of genre and has always been better known by coming from Independent companies. It is very unlikely to see companies such as Paramount or Universal doing a movie about black youths.

       (using makeaGIF.com)

Mural Films: Mural films was used because the name was inspired by the Hackney Peace mural. Therefore this production company is heavily influenced by the urban London vibes. This is the reason we chose to have Mural Films as our Production Company because it relates to the story. We also decided that Mural Films would fit as a production company for movies like Shank and Bullet Boy because they have similar themes. Mural Films was also created as an independent production company because it allows for the our movie to have more of a chance to reach its target audience. For example people will relate urban movies to Mural Films Productions, therefore when looking for a good urban independent movie they will see if the movie is made by Mural Productions.    

Fun House: Fun House distributions was also created as an independent company. Fun house was inspired by its ident. However the name still fits because teen movies sometimes include a little comedy, However the name fits because Fun House is intended to be a distribution company that works with movies that focus on certain type of people. In this movie it is focusing on youths of London, although in other movies the distribution company can focus on business men or other stereotypical genre of people. As the Distribution company is independent it does not have huge budget to own its own theaters, instead Fun House would distribute the movies through DVD's and Blu-Rays. This way people looking to watch a movie with a certain genre of people will be able to look up Fun House DVDs. 

Evaluation Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

There is a wider audience for teen films that appeal to the public which would make them watch it, there's groups such as:

• Adults to compare life as a teenager then and now:  Some adults tend to watch teen films to get a sense of how teenagers conduct their lives now, comparing to how life as a teenager was for them. As teen films are coming of age, some adults can relate to the story line as it may have happened in their lives so they can sympathies with the characters. 
•  Couples: Couple tend to watch teen films as there's always a couple that has a relationship that people want to have for example Twilight with Edward and Bella. In the film people saw them as the couple to be and some couples in real life, will make their relationship something similar to that to get people talking.
•  Teenagers: Teenagers will watch teen films because of a particular actor or actress in the film that they may look up to. They also watch it as it is something they can relate depending on the story line and how the teenagers are presented. 
• Aspiring actors, actresses, directors etc: People who are aspiring to be someone who works in the film industry would watch a teen film for inspiration to see how they could improve the way they act, direct, edit etc. They could watch a teen film to watch how an actor or actress they look up to perform.  

For Jacked, our specific target audience based on our sub-genre (Crime/Drama), is for 15-18 year old that live in urban areas that the 2011 riots took place in. This is because it's still fresh in the mind of teenagers, and they know that living in urban areas is hard and a struggle at times, so the rioting was a perfect time for people to go looting. They can also relate to it because of the opening cause they may have known someone who looted and  may have been tempted to go with them but opted out. However Jacked could appeal to adults as they could have been a owner of one of the shops that we're looted so they can get a sense of what some of the teenagers was thinking when the decided that looting was the best thing to do. 

Using Social Media Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram would make the film more noticeable as they're are most used by teenagers. On Facebook and Twitter there a news feed so you can see what other people like, comment, share etc. so if one popular person for example liked the page or the trailer and they share it, his or hers peers would watch and it would spread rapidly making them keep networking sites to use for promotional purposes. Having Jacked as the title of the film, it makes the younger generation automatically know what the film is about as jacked it a slang word for stolen.  

Evaluation : Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product ?

Evaluation Q3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

The production company we used for our film opening was Mural Films. The reason why we used the name 'Mural Films' was so that it sets the scene as a Mural is a piece of art painted onto a wall or ceiling. They are used to express feelings and tell a story. We thought this was best to represent our production company as it is a teen drama which consists of different emotions and conflicts within the narrative. For our distribution company we decided to use the name 'Fun House Distributions' as this name is unique and could represent the stereotypical, joyful teen films.

We decided that both our production company and distribution company are independent due to films with a similar narrative/location such as 'Shank' and 'Kidulthood' who are produced/distributed by smaller independent companies such as 'Revolver entertainment'. These films are based on gritty urban estates just like our film.

An independent film company is most suitable for our film as independent film companies focus more on the story being told through the use of controversial factors such as explicit scenes which are realistic and don't sugarcoat the story like in big budget hollywood films. Although we do want our film to be entertaining, it is important that it's also educational even if that may require the use of bad language or severe violence. However, the downside of using an independent production company is that the low budget means that we won't benefit from popular stars, which attract their fans. This results in less revenue for the movie. Furthermore, the equipment will be cheaper as they have a low budget which means our film quality won't be as good as if it was funded by a major hollywood production company.
An independent distribution company means that the marketing will be less effective than if we were with a major distributor as there wouldn't be billboards advertising our movie as well as posters all around the city.

Studio Canal and Revolver entertainment are both distributors which distribute films with a similar theme to 'Jacked'. By using a distributor such as these for example, we will be shown directly to our target audience as these independent distribution companies are known mostly for their films which are based around being teen drama's.

      

Evaluation: Q4. Who Would Be The Audience For My Teen Film?

Evaluation Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Attracting and addressing the target audience was long process as you need to use the right websites, advertisement, and speak in the right manner. As the target audience for Jacked is 15-18 year old my group and i had to promote on social networking sites that 15-18 use on a regular basis which is Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook is used to share whats going on with your friends and family, having advertisements on the sidebar of it would make the target audience feel that it worth watching if they see it on every page they go on , on facebook, also the fact that the can share the Jacked movie page, enables more people to have a look at it which would then start a trend, making it well known on a wider scale. Instagram is used to share photos and videos which everyone can see, by posting promotional photos of the film, with actors behind the scenes, bold striking images would capture an viewers eye and make them want to know more about the film and eventually make them interested in watching it. 

Having a rough cut and receiving comments from my teachers was very useful when compiling the final outcome together because we could see that our initial thoughts for the opening had to be changed to make sure that it appealed to our intended audience. For example we wanted to have the film in black and white to make it seem more gritty, but as we was filming, the scenery and colors that was around made it more effective to show an estate in a urban area in a major city. When looking at the rough cut we could see where the right cuts needed to be made, where the credits could go and to get a feel of how it will look when its done.

There are a few things that i feel that Jacked would appeal to the target audience my group and i were aiming for such as:

• Story line: The story line in the opening creates the sense of drama that teenagers seem to have in their life, although they're not looting and doing crime, maturity and common sense is a common theme in teenagers life right now, so these themes are something that 15-18 year old can relate to.  
• Action: Action is something that really excites and thrills people these days when watching our film, even though the sub-genre for Jacked is Crime/Drama the action within the film will having the audience questioning the decisions made by the actors. 
• Sound: For Jacked my group and i decided to have an upbeat reggae track that goes to the pace of the running, the track is very engaging, and gets people going, the music then changes to an retro 1970s beat to build the suspense making the audience wanting to know what was going to happen next, the sounds creates a sense of the beginning of the end.  

After showing teenagers between the ages of 15-18, i asked them a few questions about the the opening to the film and what they thought about it, and their understanding of the film.

Most of the teenagers said that the film mainly appealed to teenage boys and possibly adults in their early 20s, this is because of the themes that we presented in the opening.

Evaluation Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

There is a large number of people who would consider watching teen films. For instance, teenagers watch teen films as, most of the time, they can relate to the social issues which occur in the movie as they're everyday issues teens could face, whether it be the social hierarchy at school or just competitiveness between each other. Teen films tend to have characters which are binary oppositions, ensuring that a wide range of teens can relate. Adults may watch teen films because they feel it could remind them of when they were a teenager. They can also compare whether lives or social issues of teenagers have changed since they were teens.

Examples of teen movies

The sub-genre for Jacked is a teen crime/drama. The target audience we're aiming for is males aged between 15-21. We're looking for an audience that's into crime films that have a lot of controversy such as brutal action and violence. The reason why we're aiming for such a young audience is because this was the age range that was being scrutinised by the media for the rioting when in actual fact people of various ages were involved. Furthermore, this specific age range will find it relatable as the characters are young and in education similarly to the audience. Our aim is to show what the riots were like from a teens perspective and how it can turn a great friendship into turmoil. Adults may also gravitate towards this film to get an insight on how teenagers are living now and what their social issues are compared to when they were teens. The fact that we had scenes which showed off areas in hackney may interest older people who remember it looking a different way.

Through the use of social media, we're allowed to reach a mass audience of teenagers who tend to spend most of their time on these sites. For example, we have a Facebook page aimed at those who use this website which tend to be teenagers and young adults up to the age of 30. As our unique selling point, this is a perfect outlet to reach our target audience as well as interest some adults. When people like our page, their friends are notified, interesting them and so on. This will rapidly increase awareness of our film . The title of the film 'Jacked' is something commonly used in teenage colloquial which means to be 'stolen'. The title is ambiguous and this increases the chances of having people interested in watching it.

Evaluation Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Teen movies are mainly targeted to the age range of 13 to 19, Teen movies has become its own genre as its audience is such a wide variety of people who all have the ability to relate to stereotypical characters in these movies. A teen movie is most likely related to coming of age; they explore elements such as bullying, high-school and relationships. The most obvious factor that makes a teen movie is that the actors are mainly the same/similar age as their target audience.

Target Audience
Although most of the characters are of similar age, I think this movie can also relate to older people around their 20's. This is because the movie touches on some complex ideas through the plot. And the movie plot also includes lawyers and court scenes which older people will find more interesting.
Therefore although most teens would enjoy the running scene and being able to relate to what the teens are going through, some 20 somethings will also be able to understand what is going on. And they are likely to enjoy the action/fun side to the movie because it would remind them of the misbehavior they would also do when they were teens.

People who would enjoy this movie are also likely to enjoy other movies such as:

Urban Movies

Evaluation Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?