Evaluation: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

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

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

In my film to live and not survive is a music comedy drama it uses many action and enigma codes. The target audience is 15-25 year olds who are mostly males.

During my research and planning I have found 3 different films that can be called ‘similar’ to my product of ‘to live and not survive.

They are called:

School Of Rock.

Once.

That Thing You Do.

S

    School Of Rock.

    It’s a music comedy film.
    It is about people perusing their dreams and becoming in a famous rock band.There is a similar           target audience although more younger people would have watched school of rock compared to my     film.

 Once.

  Is a music drama film.

  They place instruments.
  Similar target audience although there may be some more girls watching the once to my film as     there is the romance element to it.

  That thing you do.
  Is a music comedy drama film.

  There is one main female character like there is in mine and the rest males.

 We have a similar target audience which involves those who are interested in music and perusing  their musical career.

The conventions I have used are:

Similar target audiences.

Happy cheery music to get the audience to know that it is a music film so it fits in with the genre.

Opening scenes indicating that it’s a music drama and showing that they are in a band.
CGI has been used.

Credits have been used next to the actors so you know who is playing who.

  Conventions I have challenged:

  Instead of using real life instruments with the characters I have used alternatives to represent that the   characters want to be a successful band but are actually still working in their day to day jobs. For    example Ash the guitarist is at work as a cleaner and he is using a mop to show that he is a guitarist at heart.

 There is more than one background song within the opening scene which is usually unknown. 

Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your product?

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

Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

The idea that young people will be able to relate is because my film is certificated a 15, and at 15 this is when young people either start working towards their dreams or realise that it's never going to happen and that they aren't being realistic so head for another goal and I think that the idea of them perusing their dreams is illustrated perfectly as they won't take no for an answer. Furthermore the idea of the modern female is represented well as there is a lot more screen time then she would've had many years ago. I think that the fact that it is modern helps to attract a younger audience of 15 as it's with the times and they would watch it as they would be able to relate to it.

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

My media product represents the following social groups of class, age, race, gender and sexuality.

It represents a class status as working class. My product conducts this idea as in my product it is clear that the characters all have low income jobs or at college and that’s why the big ‘dream’ is to escape from that background of the working class in order to make their lives better for them and their futures. I think that the title of my product fits this annotation perfectly as it’s ‘To live and not survive’.





 Many poorer people believe that they are only living and not surviving in this current society and this is how my characters feel throughout the opening scene the narrative of opening scene supports this idea as the title is repeated in the voice over. At the beginning of my film there is a shot laddering up a keyboard instrument and if you notice the shot itself its rather uneasy, this demonstrates the life for the working class represented as life is not a walk in the park for them.





In the product the clothing the characters are wearing are a good example of working class clothing as some working class can be stereotyped as ‘scruffy’. Most of the characters are just wearing a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt as they spend most of their money on their instruments to make the dream come true.

It represents a particular age group of 15-21 year olds. I think my media product conducts this idea as the protagonist in my opening scene is roughly the same age of a 17 year old so people around that same age group would be more than likely to be the type of people to watch this film as they’d be able to relate to the characters relationships and feelings within the film. My product represents the idea that the younger generations live in the clouds and not having realistic future goals. As not many older generations ‘realistic’ dream would be to create this idea of a famous successful rock band.  It challenges the idea that the younger generation are lazy as in the end the band does actually work out and they've had to work for their success rather than them just expecting it to be given on a plate. As we see in the disequilibrium of someone in an older generation giving a group of teenagers the time of a day and the chance to succeed.

It represents a particular race of white people. In my product the protagonist is white.

The narrative suggests that the characters have had a normal but boring stereotypical white working class family background of going to school, college and then getting a part time job in a shop or fast food outlet.






It challenges the stereotype of black people have a better chance or singing voice then white people it shows that a white person can have just a strong and as powerful singing voice as a black person.

It represents a modern view of the female and male. The reason as to why the female gets more screen time then the males and gets to be the one in control of the narrative when it comes to the voice over represents that she is a strong independent female.  I believe this shows a modern view of females within film as many years ago females were seen but not heard so my product shows how time has flown by and how the progress of equality has improved.  It also in some way disconnects the idea of stereotypical idea of the male breadwinner as the males in my product have broken away from the stereotypical 9-5 working hour to them be able to afford to take a risk of becoming a rock star.

The sexuality I have portrayed is heterosexual as it as seen as traditional. But it has broken away from the sexuality stereotypes as the female is doing the same job as the males. 

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

To live and not survive with credits final film.

Audience feedback.

Audience feedback.

What was good/effective about the project?

-          The idea is really good, and the contrast between dreams and reality is drawn out.

-          The backing track.

-          The voice over – explains the story.

-          The Opening titles.

-          The different use of camera shots to tell the story.

-          Clever and neat transitions.

-          The link between instruments and everyday items.

What did you like?

-          Good array of characters.

-          Some interesting use of mise-en-scene.

-          Camera shots.

-          Opening titles.

-          The sound bridge.

-          The voice-over to help explain the story.

-          Colour in the shots (lively) explains their life.

-          The guitar and mop, this shows the comedy element.

-          The background music.

-          The narrations.

Any suggestions for improvement?

-          Sound levels (the voice over to increase and the backing track to be lower smoothly).

-          Courtney Burch after Atlantis productions.

-          Stop the typewriter when the words stop.

Experiments with camera.

A few of my takes within my film involve 'unsteady' takes like it does at the beginning when there is a shot involving a keyboard, this is to represents that their lives are unsteady, their love and passion for music is unsteady, and the idea of it travelling up the keyboard represents how the band are going to have to climb up some sort of ladder in the film and that they have to work their way up the music industry in order to get where they want to go in their careers.

I have used many close ups to represent how fed up and bored they are with their current life.. I decided to use this so you know how much emotion is put into their music and how much they love it.

Audio used.

I used Paramore - Ain't it fun.
I used this song as I thought it was a good song to sum up how they would feel if they were stuck doing their dead end jobs, and Parmore are one of Tays role models as it states on her wall as she wants her bands music to sound similar. So once again its to keep up with the continuity of my film.

I used Blink 182 - All The Small Things.
Everyone in the rock/punk industry looks up to Blink 182, they are idolised by many current musicians and that's exactly what Ash was doing while he was completeing a letter for Work he was listening to blink 182 idoloising them.

Location Planning.

The first main scene in my film is Matt doing his homework in a home environment.

I decided for this to be the location as you can tell its a home environment from the the curtains and the decor and the fact that the decor is rather modern, as my film is based around young people you'd expect to have most of the up to date trends.

 

 

The next scene it comes to a bedroom I decided this would be the best location as there are band posters all over the walls which fits in nicely with the theme of it being a music drama with hints of comedic elements to it.Around the room you notice a guitar case which ones again fits in nicely with the genre/theme of the film. You can also tell that the room is also a girls room due to the flowery wall paper and all the pink films/dvds but it's not too girly which I think fits in with Tays indentity really well.

 

 

The next scene is a scene of Cameron with a mop, I used this location as Cameron is supposed to be a cleaner for multiple house holds and the footage looks like we've caught him 'rocking' out on a shift which shows this really is his passion which cleaning is not. I thought that kitchens are the one place in a house hold that always seems to get dirty so they take longer to clean that is why i used a long take too.

 

 

As Ash and Matt live in the same apartment they have the same decor, so I decided to film it in the same location to keep the continutiy flowing and show how close they were as friends.

 

Institutions.



JD picture is an independent film company. They are a no to low film budget company.
I believe that they would be a good help in making my film as like I have said previously they are a no to low film company... and I wouldn't want to spend a lot on creating this film.
On their website they have produced short films and they seem to be experts in editing using long takes and quick cuts which I use a lot in my film.



http://www.jdpictures.co.uk/


Film four:

•Film four ranges in both national and international filming. This would be good as it would get my product more known around different parts of the world.

•Film four is partner with Warp X films where they create lower budget films to get a bigger target audience.

BBC FILMS:

•They are the forefront of great British films.

•They are always willing to give new talent a chance to be known in Britain.

•Although they are fussy with the types of films they will back when it comes to budgeting if they selected my film I know it would do well as most British citizens always trust BBC films for a good film.

 

Casting.

Isobel will be playing Tay.

Olly will be playing Matt.

Bayley will be playing Cameron.

Jamie will be playing Ash.

Media Questionnaire. ( CLEAN VERSION)

Media Questionnaire.

1.  Who is your favourite rock band?

 

 2.  Are you interested in any other types of music? If so what?

 

 

3.  Would you prefer a film about music to be completely serious or having comedy elements involved?

 

 

 4.  After reading the character profile and watching the opening scene of my film do you believe that the real Tay matches her character profile?

 

 

 5.   After watching the film opening do you understand what is happening? If not please explain why.

 

 

 

6.   Do you believe that all of the actors are more or less is similar to the character profile?

 

 

7) How old are you?

 

 

8) What other film genres are you interested in?

 

 

 9) After watching the film opening did you think that the film was a good opening to the synopsis?

 

 

10) If not explain why?

 

 

Story board for opening scene.

Sounds I will use in my opening film.

      

I will use diegetic sound this is where:

voices of characters 

sounds made by objects in the story 

music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world 
Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. 
I will use diegetic sound when Ash and Matt are tapping and the keyboard on the laptop and banging the pen on the paper to represent Ash playing the keyboard and Matt playing the drums while in a lecture at college I may also add sound effects to make the taps and banging stand out more for my audience.

I will also use non-diegetic sound this is where:
narrator's commentary

sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect

mood music

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space.

I will use non-diegetic sound while I have a background song in the back of my film to give it an upbeat happy feeling, I feel that this describes the feel mood perfectly. I will also use it when I add in Tay's voice over that describes how they are all feeling about the current situation they are in.

Character Profile ( Ideal Ash)

Ash.

And finally you have Ash. The bands keyboardist. His favourite band is Blink 182 he is inspired to have a career like they have had. He works in the local offices near his house.

When I thought of Ash in my hair I always imagined a male who didn't really care about his appearance as much as the others did, I mean he will be at the back of the stage looking down at his keyboard so possibly not many people will be able to see him/take notice of him.



Character Profile (Ideal Cameron)

Cameron.

Cameron is a gutarist who has finished college and is now a local part time cleaner at his local primary school.

When I think of an image of Cameron in my head because I have always imagined him to be the more confident male in the band considering he's upfront on the guitar for their whole set while they are on the stage.

I've always wanted Cameron to have long messy hair because I believe that represents his type of personality and he's incredibly funny and bubbly and completely mad on stage.

Character Profile (Ideal Matt)

Matt.

  Matt is still a college student he is still studying music as he has undying love for the subject.

When I think about Matt and image like the one above comes into my head. I have always imaged Matt to be an overall shy person but with a rebellious aspects on stage and when you get to know him.

The image of him wearing all black strikes the rebellious image but also him having his hood up in this image shows the overall shyness I really wanted to get across.



Character Profile. (Ideal Tay)

Tay.

Tay Works in a hairdressers, she has always wanted to be in a rock band.

I would like my character to look a bit like this female in the photo as she's a good idea of a someone who I expected to play Tay.

By looking at this person you can tell that Tay is expressive in the way she dresses and is confident and in my film I want my lead singer to be whacky and show that she has alot of sass and the condfience to keep on carrying on with music even when the record label drops her band throughout the film she picks herself and the band up to get into another record label and it works.





Casting (Ideal)

There are four main characters in my opening they are called Tay,Matt,Cameron and Ash.

Tay - Lead Singer of band - Occupation - Hairdresser.
Matt  - Drummer of band - Occupation - Still in college.
Cameron - Gutarist of band - Occupation - Cleaner.
Ash - Keyboardist of band - Occupation - Office worker.

What I wanted them my characters to look like.

                                                                          Tay:

                                                                        Matt:

Cameron:

                                                                            Ash:

                                                       

Voice Over Script (rough idea)

Voice Over.

So Yeah.

This is our life, It's boring and simple ay?

Trust us this is not what me and my college friends wanted.

We wanted to be making music having a proper career you know?

None of us are happy.

We are just living and not surving... Well do you want to know what I say to that.

STUFF THE SYSTEM.

It's about time we started living and not just survivng.

I decided to have a voice over in my film opening because I thought it was a more effective way rather than just having loads of dialogue within the first two minutes of the clip. It allows my audience to take more notice on the connoations actually going on in the clip which I think is good as it allows people to create their own opinions on what's actually going in the film. It does also help explain what is going on within the clip which is vitual because what's the point in having a film opening that doesn't make any sense. Also I believe the voice over is a very good representation of teenagers as most teenagers think a lot but don't say a lot they never really talk about anything they just get on with their life whereas I feel that this voice over really does explain what is going through all of the teenagers thoughts durning this specific time in their life.


This clip of The Breakfast Club inspired me to use a voice over and it lets you inside a teenage mind and tells you what they really think and thats exactly what I wanted to show while using a voice over.



Certificate Rating.

I think that the age certificate on my film would be a 15 as there would be some comedy elements in the film that wouldn't be seen as appropriate for anyone younger than the age of 15. Also as they are a 'rock' band there could be some possible drug elements in my film so I believe that a MPAA of 15 would work.

Audience.

I have recently been looking at films similar to the one that I am making myself.
My film is going to be a music drama production and films similar to it are:


School Of Rock.                                                                                                                

IMDB Figures:
It had a $35,000,000 (estimated) budget.
This is how much the film made durning its opening weekend.

 

$19,622,714 (USA) (5 October 2003) (2,614 Screens)

£2,742,356 (UK) (8 February 2004) (376 Screens)

$35,000 (Hungary) (28 March 2004) (26 Screens)

€251,134 (Italy) (4 April 2004) (144 Screens)        

 €166,921 (Netherlands) (15 February 2004)  (49 screens)

 €392,418 (Spain) (29 February 2004) (228 Screens)

The MPAA: The certificate given to this film was a PG-13

 As it has some humour and drug references involved.

ONCE. 

IMBD FIGURES:
It had a €180,000 (estimated) budget.
This is how much the film made durning its opening weekend.

$61,901 (USA) (20 May 2007) (2 Screens)
£36,945 (UK) (25 March 2007) (16 Screens)
AUD 110,695 (Australia) (2 September 2007) (17 Screens)
LBP 6,708,161 (Lebanon) (28 October 2007) (4 Screens)
€3,395 (Netherlands) (23 September 2007) (4 Screens)
KRW 71,392,810 (South Korea) (23 September 2007) (13 Screens)
The MPAA: The certificate given to this film was a R ( PG-13) as it has bad language.
That Thing  You Do.

IMBD FIGURES:
It had a $26,000,000 (estimated) budget.
This is how much it made durning its opening weekend.

Opening Weekend:

$6,208,595 (USA) (6 October 1996) (1,870 Screens)

The MPAA: The certificate given to this film was a PG as it has some bad language in it and nudity and sexual scenes.










In General the target audience for these type of films are young adults/teenagers who have an undying passion for music. I think that the undying love for music is very important when it comes to watching a film related to music as it allows the audience to really connect to how the characters feel in the film. Not having a passion for music may lead to people not being as interested in the films as they can't connect. These movies were role models for my films target audience as I believe that any young adult could enjoy my film but I think that if you have an undying passion for music you will love it even more then the average young adult might.


I think that the age certificate on my film would be a 15 as there would be some comedy elements in the film that wouldn't be seen as appropriate for anyone younger than the age of 15. Also as they are a 'rock' band there could be some possible drug elements in my film so I believe that a MPAA of 15 would work.

My typical viewer ( Male)

I think that more males would watch my film more than females because there is many more boys in my film for them to relate to and also more males then females have the dream to get into a band.

Gender Statistics:
Male: 55%
Female: 45%

Typical male viewer:

 

        

 

Age: 18
Occupation: In college studying music.
Interests and hobbies: He enjoys going to local gigs with friends for inspirations and going for walks in the park at night by himself so he can write music. He enjoys playing instruments such as guitar,drums and keyboard.
This is my stereotypical male viewer because when I think of males coming to watch my film I think of the quiet,shy type of male. A very secretive one too. I believe that this image perfectly illustrates the male that I have in my head to watch my film.