Evaluation

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

The film Step Brothers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sczh_KjjFNU) has largely influenced our own filming style, like our film it is also a comedy based on the relationship between the two main characters, who are brothers.

We all liked the type of comedy that was used in this film, it isn’t slapstick but it is still playful and quite outrageous and we found that it was the characters personalities that gave the film the majority of its humorous qualities, so, we wanted to re-create this as much as possible in our own film. There is a scene in Step Brothers where one of the brothers is seen waking up and putting on an old t shirt, we used this in our own film where we see Jim picking up an old t shirt from his bedroom floor that we can assume has been there several days. 

Another scene that is similar is when one of the brothers is playing computer games very intensely until he is interrupted, Jim does the same in our film. 

The lazier of the two brothers, Jim, is shown entering the bathroom we then cut to a close up shot of flowing water which is assumed to be Jim urinating until the camera zooms out to reveal that the water is being poured from a kettle. 

Like Step Brothers our film is based on the relationship of two brothers however the brothers in our film are complete opposites and we wanted to emphasize this as much as possible throughout. We also got ideas for our music choice from the film Step Brothers, both pieces of music are of an indie-rock genre which represents and helps to introduce the personalities of the main character, Jim. The main storyline of our film is similar to that in The Secret to my Success where one of the characters also pretends to be someone they aren’t in order to reap undeserved benefits. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Although our characters are slightly exaggerated for the enhancement of humour and entertainment I think that they are typical of their social groups. For example, Jim is a white, working class, teenage male, who is unemployed and lives off his parents. He is represented as being lazy and is it obvious that he spends all of his time not being very productive and either lying around the house or out partying. This is a common stereotype for teenagers of this generation and because our main target audience is males aged 15-30 I think that this will increase the humorous factors because they will either know someone similar to Jim or have been like Jim themselves and so can easily relate. Men are defiantly more dominant in this film which would again help to appeal to a majority male audience as in one scene the solicitor is shown reading a men’s magazine whilst mainly focusing on females breasts. This character is similar to David Brent in the television comedy series, The Office, played by Ricky Gervais. Much like our character, David Brent isnt very interested in his job and he casually rebels.

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

Optimum Releasing were founded in 1999 and are based in London. They release over 200 films a year and have become one of the biggest distributors of independant film and world cinema in the UK since Tartan Films closed in 2008. Our film is very British and low profile featuring no famous actors or impressive special effects so I believe that a distribution company such as Optimum Releasing would be better suited for a film of this budget. 

Also, when I have previously researched Optimum Releasing as a distribution company they generally focus of low budged comedy films like ours such as This is England and Four Lions.

Our film would be distributed throughout Britain and if successful lead to DVD production and rentals however I don’t think there is much chance of merchandising as there are no new and outrageous themes featured in our film with would usually lead to merchandise production unless it was something basic, such as t-shirts.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Thank you Uncle Norman is aimed at a predominantly male audience between the ages of 15 and 30 but because our film is a comedy it may appeal to an older audience if they enjoy the type of humour. According to BBFC regulations (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2), our film would hold a 15 classification due to its immature nature, we ensured that we kept our film at a 15 and not an 18 certificate because we didn’t want to lose 15-17 year olds as they are an important group of our target audience.

Due to our cast been male dominant which we would continue throughout the film having women playing only small parts and even then being perceived as sex symbols. Our film is similar to Step Brothers, American Pie, Pineapple Express and Superbad all of which centre around the relationship and personalities of men playing leading roles. We interviewed both male and female participants in our audience research, all of which would be a part of our target audience and these films that are similar to ours were all listed as peoples favourite films. 

 

How did you attract/address your audience?

The characters featured in our film are most likely to attract our intended audience due to them being so relatable and part of the same social group as our main characters are both male and aged 19 and 17. As both these characters have such different personalities it is easy to relate to their lifestyles by either being a college student or being unemployed and  being familiar with the personality traits that accompany each of these. The camera is usually at eyelevel with each of the brothers because the whole film is about their lives so this will help the audience to feel connected to them, making it more enjoyable for them. Comedy films are generally filmed using basic shots because it’s the characters or situations that make the theme of the film and so they are shown as realistically as possible. 

What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?

I had no prior knowledge of how to use any filming equipment and we chose to use the Sony HDV 1000 so this was challenging at first until I had learnt how to operate it properly. 

We learnt how to film and then playback the footage and in time after studying other films we understood what camera angles and shots worked well with different scenes. We also learnt how to correctly set up the tripod, what type of lighting worked well and how to white balance the camera so that we could achieve a more natural colouring and look to our shots.

We only encounted minor problems such as shots that followed on but had different brightness levels due to strong sunlight, but we rectified this by simply re-filming after adjusting the lighting available. We used Final Cut Express to edit our film which although it was complicated it was easier to use after some practice and we were able to use it for any effects that we wished to incorporate into our film.

We used several effects to enhance the quality and look of our film including the Dip to Colour Dissolve effect which we used as a colour fading transition between our titles and the start of our film. 

 We also used the High Pass filter which we configured slightly and applied it to the voices of our characters when we wanted it to sound like their voice was being heard through the phone, I think that this worked very well.

We finally had to adjust the audio volume on some shots to keep consistency and we increased the speed of our titles because our film was well over two minutes and we also wanted it to fit in with the beats of the music that was playing over the top to help the film flow.

 We also used programmes such as blogger to present our work, Mozilla Firefox for research and YouTube to upload our video making it easier to access

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

In the preliminary task we had to use techniques such as match on action and the 180 degree rule, these were difficult to remember and apply at first but after having done them I was much more confident and found them alot easier to do when we begun filming. In order for us to create the best film we possibly could in the time we were given we ensured that we had properly planned out what we wanted to achieve, we firstly decided on what the genre would be and then we compiled our ideas and thought up a plot for our film. We tried to include a realistic comedy feel throughout our film wherever we could, including the setting, mise en scene, music, the personalities, actions and body language of the characters and the script. This then lead us on to what certificate our film would be and what target audience this would attract. We then created a detailed shooting script and storyboard and then began to select filming locations that would be suitable and would fit in to the final look we wanted to create constantly bearing the films target audience in mind as all decisions were to point towards pleasing our audience. As our film is a light hearted comedy we weren’t filming anything over the top so to add interest to our film whilst keeping it as realistic as possible we tried to include more interesting shots by using match on action and different camera angles wherever possible. We ensured specific props were included to add to the individual characters, for example, we see Craig putting on his glasses as people who wear glasses are represented as being intelligent.

The first time we see Jim he is waking up surrounded by alcohol bottles and a calendar full of women.

Jims body language also enhances his slob like character as he is seen here laying on the settee.

These are some examples of interesting shots and cuts that we used to help the film flow and keep the audience’s attention. Here we see a phone conversation between Jim and the solicitor. As it cuts between the two men their faces remain in a similar part of the shot

The locations that we chose to use are basic but after we had added some props they fit with the overall feel and theme of the film

Overall I feel that our film has been successful as the final product is what we envisaged and together we have been able to create it in the time that we were given to the best of our abilities.