Friday, 15 April 2016

media evaluation

Evaluation

In this brief our aim was to produce a brief which connected with all media aspects and include different uses of terminology. My group consisted of John, Darnell and Abdirahman. For a large part of the film we included the outrageous, outspoken and very consistent Mamduh who has previous skills in acting. For this topic we chose urban life as we had the idea this would particularly help us connect with our audience and bring out a different mentality when each member decides to interact with our brief.

My research contributed to my planning through the influence I gained from existing art-house films that had similar aspects to my own film. An art house film which soulfully contributed to our storyline was ‘Ill Manors’, despite obvious differences in terms of features within the storyline. The main plot is based around a young black male (which links to stereotype) and he is a former gang member who has been experiencing flashbacks of his experience as a gang member after crossing paths with old settings. He crosses paths with a cerebral king pin who goes by the name of Donald Price. Donald Price is not like a general leader of the gang as he is perceived like a veteran and they refer to him as 'Don' or 'Mr. Price' and he has a stage of dominance due to his longevity which gives him a moral power. Due to our extensive story line we originally had around 6 minutes of footage with editing done at a decent pace. This links to the art-house film ‘Ill Manors due to the portrayal of young people as well as the portrayal of young teenagers in society and the consequences that follow from their previous actions. More so my film has aspects of an art house film similar to ‘Ill Manors’ in the sense it has creative aspects and has twists in the storyline the way ‘Ill Manors does. The audience may feel they know where the plot is going then their minds then there emotions change as they see a different aspect to the film. When linking institution the BBFC was a vital factor in the sense of the age certificate of 15. There explicit language could be used to a certain extent but cannot be varied. This gives the main reasoning to why the target audience for this film would be 15 mainly due to the maturity of the individuals of this age group.

The focus group involved a number of members discussing for a period of time our extract and summing up a particular set of feedback which each group member can use to discuss any further changes to our brief and a given judgment of the particular narrative and key elements that were used in my 3 minute extract. Quite decisively we decided to go through with a focus group as this is particularly beneficial as we could gain a discreet and precise opinion from different audience members on how detailed our brief was and any minor changes we could make which could have a big impact on our final product.

Our target audience for our film would be 70% males and 30% females. I would say mainly males would watch this movie due to the excessive violence which is not merely associated with females. More so males would feel they would have some sort of relation to the characters and can relate to any action or situation the character is involved in and the reasoning for doing this. More so the film has an aspect of links to real life activity which could detail the involvement of gangs. More so the age range would be from around 15-30. This for me is a realistic age range as 15 is generally the age when young males become aware to these surroundings of illegal activity and mainly due get exposed to this activity or pressured into doing any illegal activity. Additionally, since the brief was to attract a different audience compared to what art house cinemas usually attract we thought that urban life would be the best genre to go for since most teenagers of this day and age enjoy viewing. In addition older the age the more the understanding of the lifestyle is and the wiser the decisions. Therefore I would suggest certain members of the audience could feel they can connect to the characters especially the older generation as they may have had previous encounters with stuff the on screen characters may be doing. In contrast I feel this film would appeal to lower class/ working class people, mainly due to the fact as I’ve stated more members of these classes would feel they can appeal to this film as certain aspects may be happening in real life.

I feel when exploring psychographic groups I came to the decision that quite intriguingly the film would not appeal to succeeders. I came up with this decision mainly due to the fact succeeders do not understand the social struggle as well as they may think and may not have any similarities to any situations or events taken place in the film and will not emotionally affect them or any decision they make in their life as they have succeeded with their aims, objectives and goals to where they want to be in life. I do feel the film would appeal to strugglers and explorers mainly due to the fact strugglers can sympathize with the decisions in which the characters in the film make as well as connect with situations the characters or even victims within the film make. I would say this film would appeal to explorers mainly down to the fact they explorers like to explore new elements in a different brand in which they are not familiar with. I think the main characters which strugglers can link to would be Malik in the sense that they may have got themselves in a situation that later affected them in life.

One key moment which idolized the incisive elements of the film would be the scene in which Malik is captured by the henchmen of Don Price. The camerawork used showed specific cuts in which specified showed the synergy and the audience could have sensed an urge of discomfort as Malik was captured. The audience may sense sympathy for Malik and jealousy in which the dominance Donald Price has. Medhurst’s shorthand identification can be applied to the character of Donald Price as he is seen as always wearing formal clothing and has a sense of power over his subjects due to his longevity. More so a strength which could be applied that made my final work more professional would be the use of CCTV format editing which added a unique sense to my film as it isn’t classified as a general format used by filmmakers and I think it added a unique element in the sense it adds creativity to the film overall. A weakness would be the failure to lower the lighting in the clips as for the audience it would appear way too bright and messes with the effects with the visuals of the characters.

My print work has a variation of colors which are seen throughout all three pages which create synergy and make it visually appealing to the audience or the viewers who are watching. More so the central images used in my print work are correspondent to elements of the film and this creates synergy for the viewers. A weakness could be the background colors as I attempted to match the colors to make the images more appealing to the audience. Strength would be the use of blur and how the use of blur creates mystery. For my contents page I added a generally unique still of blur which is the motion blur and is added suspense to my print work as it gave the viewers a thrilling edge with the villain Donald Price covering the face of the main protagonist. This gave the character of Donald Price a substantial look in terms of his power and dominance over his rival. My double page spread gave an alternative look as the central image of Donald Price was an over the shoulder shot and the color used was a dark color to symbolize lack of emotion the character indeed has. I feel with each piece of print work I combined a very delicate blend of colors especially used in the front cover with the blend of black and white.

In our production we gave the representation of young people as pressured into a specific lifestyle in which involves drugs and parties or any illegal activity. In addition the fact a two black males are portrayed as the main characters suggests and gives the stereotype mainly black young males involve themselves in such violent activity. More so the limited use of females is quite obvious in the sense females generally are not associated in any violent activity. The two henchmen are males which reinforces to the audience that males are dominant and provide women with the protection in addition the use of black people as henchmen could link the stereotype given a long time ago which was seen as black people as slaves and do the physical work for their superiors. Moreover, the ‘Uses and gratification’ theory can be applied to our work through the category ‘personal identity’ through which the teenage audience may find themselves reflected in the characters behavior portrayed onscreen. Furthermore, the ‘dependency theory’ gives the audience different feelings towards particular characters.

I would have proceeded with creating a blog over viewing the film in small teaser clips detailing little promos of the film only giving viewers an insight to the film. When concerning about content I would include a range of reviews from a variety of film specialists to help give the audience an idea of different opinions the films concept and the structural success of the film. I would also include interviews from the main characters, director, writer and producers. Furthermore, I would include links to the blog on social media accounts. Lastly I and my fellow colleagues would give the audience only connected with the blog access to exclusive photo-shoot images as this will alert viewers of any pre released costume changes or facial changes to key characters in the film. More so since the emergence of technology expanded we have clearly identified the cross-promotion we would need to use would be connected to social media. The emergence of social media and its daily use by civilians in this day and age has been seen as a big platform by companies to promote products and services. This is an opportunity for my production as we know we could capitalize on social networking sites i.e twitter, Instagram to promote our film and hopefully gain a new target market from social media in which we can then promote further productions if this production deems a success.


I personally think I have met the brief pretty well as I have maintained to make quite a long and constructive 6 minute clip and shortened it down to 3 minutes in order to meet the briefs specifications. On the nutshell I feel our product will be sustained and a success in the market due to the use of the genre and how the genre links with the current lifestyle youths tend to go into.

Wednesday, 24 February 2016













Hunting Season

It's that point of the 12 months, again. you may say its an animal documentary being replayed again and again again, but the deeper roots of the violent nature that British, teen gangs hold is a good deal more surreal. Gang life isn't a choice, it's miles a way of life to continue to exist. continue to exist the looking season, where predator and prey meet.

Immerse into the London gang life. Drugs, guns, drama, violence is what haunts those in the hunting pack. These tortured souls will end life without hesitation, it is their duty to keep themselves on top of the food chain. They will smoke on their cancer sticks, shoot if even irritated, and serve as a catalyst in the sadistic game. They are ruthless dogs that have no feeling or emotion. Mainly because they know if they lose their concentration for even a hot second consequences may follow, weather its regret or revenge, they must always be alert.

Hunting Season - the cast

Meet Hunting Season's Malik -a ex gang member that has been has commited many sins in which he regrets and lands himself in a state of bother in which he feels he didn't require it, and lands himself in a bother with the menace Mr Don Price

 Lucas - a ex drug trafficker who is in deed good friends with Malik and has previous experiences in crime as a drug trafficker.

The don, Donald Price "Don". The godfather of the gang. Respected by all. He's notorious for endless crimes, and he's just the bigger image behind the happenings. He's sent mercenaries to kill Malik.

Hunting Season - the crew

The editing and production offer realistic conventions of a gang life and has been shown to draw people in more for the sinister life that gangs offer. Each perfectly placed shot, each perfect detail, and each perfect motion offers the experience. It explores the deeper things that go on, rather than the surface of things. It truly tries to appeal from a cinematic perspective in order to make the true face of gang life as interesting as it already is. Explicit material is also shown, in order to emphasis the side of things you don't see.

Friday, 12 February 2016

attack the block review

Attack the block is a movie that makes a speciality of the teens struggling with in opposition to an alien invasion. It suggests a stereotypical representation of younger teenagers from South London, imparting them as being 'thugs'. The dress indicates this as the characters dress in snapback caps and hoodies. those forms of apparel are generally associated with 'gangsters' or 'hoodlums' which again, is a stereotype among estate kids. This consequently presented the audience to see the dominant illustration of the adolescents.

additionally they were swearing that's a stereotype amongst teenagers. The word 'block' inside the name refers back to the property wherein they live, which I suppose became a terrific title that matches the content of the movie properly.
I assume that the target audience would be 15-25 12 months olds as they may sense that they could identify with some of the characters and themes represented within the film. because the category honestly is rated as a 15, this will make feel that it would appeal to that age organization. however, I do assume that even more youthful kids along with preteens would additionally watch the film, especially if they stay in an estate and see this type of teenagers wherein they live.

personally, I failed to experience the film as I felt that the monster explosions had been too faux searching and the storyline became quite stereotypical, when it comes to different films that have a 'battle' type theme at some stage in the movie. It seems too common of a storyline and wasn't very authentic because it's 'us in opposition to the world' subject indicates.
The alien issue of the film most likely could additionally appeal to the more youthful youngsters because it is a fictional, mythical creature which does not clearly exist. within the feel of 'hoodrats' trying to fight aliens, the narrative will be deemed as particularly unique as it's usually adults that would take in this function.

Escaping the outsiders, the institution is now then is caught by using  policemen and Moses is captured, recognised as a mugger by means of Samantha. The outsiders, taking after Moses, batter the police to death and assault their van, leaving Samantha and Moses stuck interior. Dennis achieves the car and pushes the van away. Samantha flees whilst something stays of Moses' % receives up to the mark.

BFI notes


Woman in black
A horror movie based on a popular British novel. This would be widely appealing as it is set in the genre of a Gothic horror, with a very huge influence of British culture within the film, which in turn is appealing to both an international and British audience. This is evident through the use of the Victorian-esque locations, and costumes.

One day
An urban fairytale which has the typical conventions of a romance film. The appeal to a British audience is the fact that the main characters are typically from British backgrounds and cultures and thus the characters are easily relatable for the audience. The urban fairytale also focus heavily on the settings and locations, which in turn invokes the idea of tourism and promotes it thoroughly.



Art house - Independent, Niche Market.
Multiplex -  Doesn't fit solely into one genre.
Prestige - Documentary (typically).

Uses and Gratifications (National)

Information/Education:
How do other  British people live? What are the issues affecting the UK? (Ill Manors)

(for an International audience: Historical and literary figures, celebrities)

Social Interaction:
'Crowd Pleasers' (social Viewing), Oscar nominations (conversation Point)
Personal Identification:
National Pride , Solidarity, aspiration, glamorisation, reinforcing/rejecting values.
(A Royal Night Out, (royalty and the royal  family)) (Kings man/Bond)
Pure Entertainment:
Spectacle (Step Up, Spectacle of Dance), Escapism, Adrenaline (any Horror Films), Catharsis.

Crossover/Prestige Audience - Broadsheet readers.


Tuesday, 26 January 2016

Mest2- progress report

  • Work completed since 6 January

  • Mise en scene, locations, costume, props, casting,
  • Redraft of script, shot list and storyboard 
  • audience research focus group 
  •  BBFC institution research 
  •  Art house film house institution research 
  • Existing product research 
  • Print brief: photoshoot & planning and research.

  • Any incomplete pre-production tasks

photo shoot is nearly done but we are due to finish on Wednesday the 26th January. 


  • Next steps/Action plan

  •  as a group we plan to finish the production which immaculate acting, a. In addition, move shooting locations. furthermore we need to make sure we comply the script and make it used effectively with the production and the actors acting must be to a high standard.

  • Date filming will be complete


more or less likely after the 20th January 2016


  • Requirements for photo shoot next week

  • Make sure we have all our original costumes ready which includes formal wear for the main villain (Donald Price who will be played as (Mamduh)
  • Have bright coloured lightings
  • Make sure that we have our rat masks which is our main initial prop we need to bring in