Wednesday, 28 January 2015

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Annabelle Sherwin 2145

Question 1

1. Name of the film
We created this title as a representation of the film. The film is based around the fact that every person in the country has a barcode containing the birth and death date. Therefore it seemed relevant to display this in the title. The title ‘Barcode’ is centred in the middle with random numbers around the edge. This symbolises an actual barcode where you have to decode a lot of numbers to retrieve a password. Coding is considered a convention of the sci-fi genre. Similarly in The Hunger Games the title is also based around the point of the film. Katniss is known as the girl on fire, becoming everyone’s role model. So the title is an amber colour to represent the fire which she is known by. As the background is black it also stands out as it is a bright colour.
2. Location
The majority of the opening is filmed inside the main characters house. This sets up the scene so the audience can get an idea of what the film will be about. Receiving a view of his house shows the audience aspects of his personality. The government section is filmed inside offices to give a sense of high authority. Dark lighting is used to show they portray the bad character and are mysterious. In Interstellar the opening scenes of the film is also filmed in the protagonist’s house. This is to show where the family feels most comfortable most comfortable. It also sets the scene for the rest of the film as it is based around that location.
3. Costume
The protagonists costume is just simply jeans, shirt and jumper in blue and grey. The simplicity shows how ordinary his character is and how he wants to keeps a low profile blending in with everyone else. He does not want to stand out as he is trying to hide what he has done from the world. Similar to the film I am Number Four. The main character wears a t-shirt and jeans for the majority of the film. As he has special powers and does not want to draw attention to himself. I would say this is not typical of the genre of the costume is too casual. Generally the characters wear specific uniform or hospital gowns. However sometimes the characters in this genre have something to hide and try to act normal, so his costume would be typical of the genre.
4. Camerawork
In this shot Tony looks in the mirror at himself to see what sort of person he has become. As he looks up the focus is on his shoulder in the foreground and the background containing his reflection in the mirror is blurry. When he looks into the mirror the focus changes so his shoulder is blurred and the mirror is focused. This is to show the audience how he focuses on the wrong aspects then comes back into reality. I believe this is typical of the genre as a lot of characters in thrillers take a minute to review themselves in the unfolding situation.
5. Editing
To show the difference between reality and a flashback we inserted a transition between the two. The first shot fades into the second by overlapping as you see both shots at the same time. This then lets the audience know that there is something different about the upcoming scene as transitions are not used anywhere else in the opening. I think this is typical of the genre as flashbacks are used a lot in thrillers and there needs to be something to signify to the audience that this scene is in another time zone.
6. Titles
For the titling we decided to use white. I think either white or black is suitable otherwise any other brighter colour would not look professional. Out of black and white we chose white as the black would have blended in with the darker surroundings, therefor white was the most appropriate choice. We picked that font as we found it suited the sci-fi thriller genre as simple but effective. Bolder titles are used in action films, and curled lettering is used more for horror thrillers. The titling is placed upon objects in the shot making it more interesting and different.
7. Opening
To open the film we settled on using to different angles to show Tony attempting to scrub his barcode off in the bathroom. This meant the audience could see the surroundings, what he was doing, his costume and his facial expressions. By not making too much happen in the first shots it wouldn’t confuse the audience but it would draw them in as they would be intrigued to as what is happening. As he is trying to scrub his barcode off his arm it shows that he has something to hide drawing the audience in as they want to know what and why.
8. Character introduced
The main character is introduced in the first 7 shots through various angles. As he is trying to get rid of something on his arm it tells the audience he is trying to hide something suggesting he has done something bad in order for him to end up in the situation. This gives the impression of mystery. A close of him in the mirror is then show so the anger in his eyes can be shown. This shot then fades into a flashback where the audience can see the main character hurting someone else, giving a clue to his present situation. However in the film Divergent the main character is first introduced by giving a voiceover. She gives her views on the current situation and how past has affected the present and future. It then goes on to her getting her hair cut by her mother. This shows that she is changing to fit in with the new rules, just like the character did in our film opening.
9. Special effects
One special effect we included is on the flashback scenes. To show that they are flashbacks we changed it so the shot plays in slow motion. This makes it easier to see what is going on, as it is a small fight scene the action happens very fast. It helps to distinguish between the present and the past. In Gravity special effects –CGI is used continuously. As the film is set in space the entire background of the film is special effects. Therefore special effects are one of the main features of this film and without there would be no film. 

No comments:

Post a Comment