Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

We went around and asked a selection of people a number of questions so we could get a rough idea of a typical audience for our film. 

We found that the typical person for our target audience is: 

• Someone who enjoys Chick flicks 
• Majority would be girls 
• Most of them in their teenage years 
• Would go with friends to see a film 
• People who like to Dance and enjoy mixed marshal arts

Evaluation question 3

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

The most likely distributor for our film we think would be Warner Brothers. We have decided this because most of the films that Warner Brothers releases our big budget main stream films. We feel our film would fit into this category because it is a very typical chick flick. Also later on in the film, having a big celebrity such as Justin Timberlake feature in it would have to have a big budget to afford this. 

After having our classmates watch our opening sequence, they all agreed with us that our film would be seen as a mainstream film.

A lot of the people who attend the cinema are aged 24 and under. We feel that people under this age will be the ones who are interested in going to see our film and so appeals to a lot of cinema attenders!

After watching many different opening sequences for example 'Step Up' we saw that they have all the casts names appear first on the titles. We chose to stick to this structure as well as we thought it would be important to keep the directors and editors till later on in the titles as they have a very important role. 

Evaluation question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our opening sequence is about a girl called Jess who is currently practising her gymnastics in the gymnasium but is getting frustrated at herself as she keeps falling over. She walks home to where she is greeted by both her mum and sister Emily, but she is not in the mood to talk to them which she makes very clear to them. She is later on in the kitchen making herself a snack, where something is delivered through the post. Jess goes over to see what it is, where she reveals a leaflet that is advertising a competition with the prize of featuring in the new Justin Timberlake music video. She is excited about this and so calls her sister Emily down to see it as well. 

The main character Jess is very dependent on herself to be able to complete targets that she has. She gets very annoyed at herself when she is unable to do something and so storms out after falling many times. The character of Jess is based on the character Haley from the film 'Stick It'. Haley is also a very talented gymnast but finds it hard when she is unable to do something straight away. 

The particular social group that is represented in our opening sequence is the typical cheerleading and dance group. Similar to those in films such as 'Bring It On' and 'Step Up'. The main character Jess is the type of girl who would be seen as the "pretty, popular girl" who would be the head cheerleader, who wants everyone to be the best they can. 

By this type of social group being represented our targeted audience would mainly be females 12+ who are interested in gymnast and dance. Also those who enjoy the music of Justin Timberlake, which makes our film very mainstream targeted. 

Evaluation question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?

Audience feedback on our opening sequence

Seven different groups within our media class were asked to watch our opening sequence and answer the following questions:

1-- What film does it remind you of?
2-- Who do you think is the main target audience?
3-- Do you think it is a mainstream (wide-appealing) film?
4-- What are the films main strengths?

Response to question 1
After watching our opening sequence everyone wrote down what film our opening sequence reminded them of. A lot of the response we got was between 'Bring It On', 'Step Up' and 'Camp Rock'. We were expecting this as these were the films that we researched when looking for inspiration.

Response to question 2
After watching our opening sequence the main feedback we got from this question was girls 12+. This is the audience that we were hoping to appeal to due to our influences being the same to this.

Response to question 3
After watching our opening sequence, everyone in the audience decided that our film was very mainstream. This was what we were expecting as the story line of our film is very similar to others and this film would appeal to a wide range of audiences.

Response to question 4
We got many different opinions on what are the films main strengths were, ranging from editing to camera work. We were both very happy with the response we got from this question.

From all the response we have received from the audience of our opening sequence, we are pleased that a lot of people enjoyed it and gave us a positive comment on all questions.

Final Video - All Starz

Once we finished our opening sequence we exported it from Final Cut Pro then uploaded it onto Youtube. 

The final cut

Once we had finished our opening sequence we exported it onto iTunes. We watched our footage on iTunes several times where we both analysed it and picked out even the smallest things that we could change and improve on.

The first thing we changed were two of the titles of the cast. These were both just timing issues in which we edited to make shorter and fit better.

The second thing we noticed was that some of the background sound that the camera picked up on throughout filming. There were slight crackling noises and buzzes from the camera, to overcome this issue we changed some of the volume levels and also cut down some of the footage to make the transitions smoother.

The third and final thing we did was change the duration of the film title. We decided to make this shorter as we felt it was on the screen for too long and could potential bore the audience. 

Choosing the music to feature in our opening sequence

http://youtu.be/9V9ILGzSQS4 - Avicii - Levels

http://youtu.be/LIiy0zU42oY - Justin Timberlake - My Love Remix

http://youtu.be/IsUsVbTj2AY - Justin Timberlake - Suit and Tie

http://youtu.be/RtKacfAPsSA - Dirty Dancer

We had the problem up until the last week when we were putting everything together of which song to use. We needed something that had the right beats to fit with what Megan was doing. However we didn't want something that was very popular, and that everyone knew because that might be distracting from whats actually happening.

In the end we decided on Justin Timberlake - My Love Remix. This was because we felt it fitted well with what Megan was doing and it wasn't that obvious on what song it actually was because it is a remix.

We cut the music up and made it so that Megan was landing her flick on the beat of the music, making it more natural and fitting. 

Editing our opening sequence

Once we had all the footage we needed we uploaded it onto 'Final Cut Pro' and roughly put all the footage in order. Once we had ordered all of our clips we started cutting all our shots and perfecting the shots. We did this several times testing out several different sequences and effects to see which was the best option - we asked for other people's opinions also on what they thought so we would get an outside point of view.

Once we had cut all our footage together and were completely finished cutting we put in the titles and music. We did have to cut the music and titles up and move them around a little to get the best effect, but this made the opening sequence look better and flow smoother. 

We used a programme called Motion 8 to create all the titles for our opening sequence. Neither of us had ever used this programme before so we had to familiar ourselves with all the different things you can do on it. Once we had got our heads around how to use the programme we set out and made all our titles.

We used two different effects on our titles -NAME 1 and NAME2 - this was to break up the cast members names from the rest of the people involved. We placed all the cast members names throughout the gym scene which is fast and full of action and then the rest of the titles were throughout the calmer more slow scene. 

Throughout the filming process

When we filmed the scene of Jess practising her gymnastics, we had to mark on the mats with tape where she was to start each time she did the move. This way when we cut all our footage together she would be in the same place and it would look smoother.

Deciding on the title of our film

We spent a long time coming up with different film titles but struggled to agree on one that we both liked. Megan who features in our opening sequence as Jess, had previously told us about the gymnastic group she used to attend which was called 'All Starz'. She suggested this to us as a possible title of the competition held in our opening sequence. We then decided that we liked the idea of having the name of the film being the same as the name of the competition that our film is based on.

ALLSTARZ! 

Filming session 4

We did not intend to have a fourth filming session but after out first filming session we decided that we needed to re-film the parts of the opening scene that are filmed in the gym. In the previous filming session we found that the camera shook a lot when Megan landed from doing her gym move. To try prevent this from happening myself and Katie decided to try filming again but this time by having the tripods and cameras placed on top of a safety mat. Using the mat did help control the impact of the shaking from Megan landing from her gym move, but unfortunately did not stop it completely.
We are going to use this footage that we have now got and are going to use a software tool to help minimize the shaking in the scene.

We are now a lot happier with how this footage looks, and are looking forward to beginning to edit it all together!  

Filming session 3

Our third filming session consisted of us filming Jess in her kitchen, where she hears something come through the letter box and goes to see what it is. The ALL STARZ competition is then revealed. Jess is intrigued and shouts up to her sister Emily for her to come have a look at the leaflet she has just received.

This filming session went extremely well for us as we were able to complete it within 30 minutes. Our only problem while filming was making sure the film did not shake when we were doing the hand held shots. To prevent this we used the tripod instead and titled the camera.

This filming session was definitely a success for us! 

Filming session 2

Our second filming session consisted of us filming the scenes of Jess entering her house, walking up her stairs and having a short conversation with her sister Emily. We filmed this at Megan's house which was very convenient for us all to get to and had enough space to film all the shots that we wanted.

When filming Megan walking up her road and then up her drive way, we had to do a few takes as we wanted the sound of cars driving past to make the scene come across realistic. However we did find that some sound coming from the passing cars was a little over powering and so had to re-film to decrease the sound.
We then went onto filming Megan and Stephanie in their bedroom. This scene we found easy to film and was able to complete is rapidly. However when looking back on the footage we saw that the lighting of the scene was very dark and that we needed to re-film and adjust the lights in the room. We then re-filmed and was pleased with the result.

This day of filming was very productive for us as we were able to get a large amount of our opening scene filmed and were pleased with the outcome of our footage. 

Filming Session 1

Our first filming session consisted of us filming Megan in the gym. We prepared the set by placing down mats, this was also to ensure Megan's safety while performing these moves. We also used tape to mark where Megan should start and finish so that the camera was able to capture all her movement.

After reviewing and editing some of the footage, we realised that as Megan landed the camera shook and unfortunately ruined the shots. We have decided that we want to re-film this footage and to prevent this happening again we're going to place the camera and tripod on top of a mat. This will hopefully support some of the impact created from Megan landing.

We will keep you updated on how it goes! 

Props

We used a variety of props throughout our opening sequence. This is to create a more realistic feel to the film.

 Jess (Megan) uses the keys above to open the door.

 Emily (Steph) is sitting on her bed with her phone while in the bedroom scene.

 Jess (Megan) is wearing this coat and then takes it off and hangs it up in the bedroom scene.

Jess (Megan) carries this bag throughout the first scene.

Titles for our opening sequence

We looked closely at both Step Up and the Bring It On opening sequences and took count of all the different titles that were used. This has helped us when having to include our own. The titles we are using are listed below.

Title 1 : Megan Parker
Title 2 : Steph Parker
Title 3 : George Ticking
Title 4 : Lee Toby
Title 5 : Courtney Singleton
PAUSE
Title 6 : Casting by Iris Guri
Title 7 : Choreographed by Sian Staple
Title 8 : Music by Tom Richards
Title 9 : Costume Designer by Mackenzie Pickup
Title 10 : Editor Sofie Woods
Title 11 : Production Designer by Cameron Little
Title 12 : Written by Ollie Star
Title 13 : Directed by Lauren Shanahan and Katie Simpson
Title 14 :  ALL STARZ (film title)