Evaluation Of Our Film Production

Our media video we made has been developed to match with the typical forms and conventions of real media productions, we used a flashback that is after our film opening so that the main character can be seen easily, we showed our first scene and then had a flashback with the title “Two Weeks Earlier” a voiceover was now used by Mickey, this was also to show narration. We now used a wide angle with establishing shots, this helped introduce the characters to our viewers, and we decided that Mickey should get in trouble straight away because it would make the audience sit up and watch. Our narrative structure wasn’t bad but could have been a lot better, I do feel that we improved our piece with the voiceovers that we used.

Our title comes up quite near the start of our video. We decided to do this so that the viewers could make there own impressions, we used a good amount of speech In our video to create the tension between each actor, we used special and sound effects throughout the production of our piece, this was so that tension was felt and also that our video supported realism.

The mise-en-scene in our video was very successful especially with our costumes, which were suited and matched our genre, which was British Gangster. Our lighting we used in our piece worked well and we didn’t have many negative times with it. Our costumes which we used emphasised the characters characteristics, for example “Big Ray” which is a very dominating person his costume relates back to him with the negative behaviour and influence, Mickey who is acted by Matt wore brighter colours such as a white shirt which shows innocence, this is also the opposite of the dark clothing which shows Mickey could be in the wrong situation.

The actors performance aspect in our piece was good at times but I believe we could have improved. The only make-up we used was hair gel, this supported modernism. The props we used were good because the matched the props in our example, poker chips, cards and sunglasses were used in our scenes and had a great effect to our piece. We chose Pockets Snooker Hall in Ware, because there are nice poker tables, and equipment. We didn’t have many disruptions in pockets which worked out nicely, the first place we filmed was inside a house this was also easy to film, and we could easily adjust the artificial lighting well which was good.

Our work doesn’t represent a social group because it is aimed towards, middle working class and is based in the city of London. The characters in our movie are all of working class and are carrying out illegal activities to earn money and a living. Our piece shows dominating males negatively, our most powerful character, Big Ray is the villain in our film.

If a major film company would back our film production it would be a British company like C4 or ITV but our piece would be a very small British Gangster film and would be minor compared to films like The Godfather which is a massive Hollywood film. Our movie would probably be shown in Multiplex cinemas in England, this is the sort of movie the younger generation of males would go out and enjoy.

This movie would be a big hit with males that are fans of such films as “Lock, stock and two smoking barrels”, Kidulthood and Green Street, these sort of films have been reviewed very positively and our film could follow in the footsteps.

Our piece would never be popular or good enough to be shown in countries such as America, because they have millions of pounds to spend whereas we don’t.

The targeted audience for our piece would be males of many different ages, but mostly the younger generation because the actors are young and there is a youth feel about our video. I’m sure that people who have watched films such as The Godfather and Green Street would enjoy our movie.

We attracted the audiences attention because we used music that has been released lately which younger viewers could relate to. The places we picked to film in were local areas so people from around our town could notice that. The film we created was linked to Lock stock and two smoking barrels with our characters sporting smart attire and modern clothing, I believe this also relates to views that are interested in clothing and fashion.

During the making of our piece I think we have got a better knowledge of how film productions are made, I have learnt better technical skills as well, for example editing a film and adding in sound effects and fades. Our film makes the viewers sit up and watch, tension is also created in our movie. However what I earned greater experience in was planning and camerawork, I struggled to keep up with the planning, but we all joined as a group to ensure our video was of a good quality. I also learnt there is a lot more to filming than just pointing a camera, the planning is a massive part you have to plan everything, costume, make-up, actors performance and lighting.

Overall I learned a lot of information since we started out with this film, we had problems with our filming because when we watched the filming in class while editing there were glitches, we also cut out a large amount of filming, for example when we filmed a variety of shots to see which angle we preferred. As a group we learnt that we had to follow a certain rule called, the 180 degree rule. I personally think that our video looks quite nice, but I do think that certain parts could have been improved and that our planning could have been a bit more specific.

We attracted the audiences attention by using music that is modern, we also used familiar locations. We caught the audiences attention with our opening scene where Mickey is being interrogated by Big Ray because he wants his money that he won. Our production had stylistic similarities to gangster films such as Snatch, Layer Cake and Kidulthood due to the fashion, music and overall genre, the choice of music in these films would be similar to ours with it being popular with the younger generation.

During the construction of this project I believe I have a much greater understanding of how a film production is developed and I have learnt lots more in technical skills such as how to add sound and music into a film. I also learnt to cut out video clips over and over again so that it looks like Hollywood editing this is mainly down to continuity, special effects are what else I also learnt to add, special effects help to grab the audiences attention. I struggled with the planning and scene orders, what is used in the scene, props, dialogue, editing (sound/special effects) and what the scene looks like and how long it will take to film.

Looking back on the production as a whole I have learnt a large amount from the start to the finish, when we first tried to film we had trouble with lighting however we darkened out the room and turned on lights to improve the lighting in that scene, we also had problems with the filming since when we watched our piece back it seemed to have glitches and scenes were too long, like when Matt and I were walking up the stairs. We also made sure when filming that there was a 180 degree angle during dialogue, and if there was shot reverse shot when two characters are having a conversation and matching on action so that our film flows better and the audience don’t get confused and understand clearly what is going on.