Evaluation - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

From the outset of the film we have deliberately left the identities of the pursuer and the pursued open to interpretation. The only real clue is the young man being pursued is dressed in a middle class way. He might look ‘street’ to the untrained eye but the brown canvas trousers – red shoes – haircut and jacket all point to him being more than just a street kid even though he might be trying to appear cool. He is still conspicuous. The older guy following him is dressed neutrally so he could be anyone. We are playing here, in this opening sequence, with stereotypes about gender, age and class. When we realise the young man being pursued is middle class our first thought might be we assume he has been up to no good although not necessarily in a violent way. As we see him being further chased we might start to ask ourselves if he is in fact in trouble. In fact this sequence depicts Laurence about to be kidnapped. This is unexpected. The audience’s perceptions are altered. If we had cast Laurence as a young black man this would have subverted the stereotype even further.

In TV soaps and detective film or TV series such as Lewis or Frost - when we see a young man being pursued by an older man it is invariably true that the younger man has committed the crime and the older man is the cop or victim chasing him. In our film it is a detective who is indeed pursuing Laurence but it is he who is doing the kidnapping hence our title Legal Deception. In the case of our film I think it would be fair to say that we have created neither a positive nor negative representation of class as the film’s theme deals with the deception and corruption of members of the police. In our instance the victim is middle class – but that is neither a praiseworthy or blameworthy fact – they merely have more access to money for a ransom than a working class family and that is why they were chosen. In Legal Deception we are looking at the philosophical questions of what causes corruption and how someone can stray so far from their vocation rather than setting out to portray class distinctions.

Evaluation - Question 1

Evaluation Question 1 As

Evaluation - Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies when constructing your product?

Blog, this helped me keep track of how the script was progressing from its original idea and allowed me to see how changes had been made and to refer to earlier thoughts. Also in the age of paperless communication it allowed everyone else to share in the progression and development of ideas. YouTube, Vimeo etc. These Internet video sites are really useful for accessing clips of well-known movies so you can watch them for ideas and analyse them. It is also a good place to look at sound effects and sound tracks to trailers and sequences. Without YouTube or it would be almost impossible to research film ideas for the young independent filmmaker. Netflix and ITunes films are also useful places where you can watch whole films for a small rental fee further broadening your inspiration base. IMDB, is useful for obtaining facts about films such as the director, the production company, dates and also for looking at demographic breakdowns for gender as to who watched the film, what rating they gave it and how they perceived it. This is a very useful insight into how a films release can be deconstructed. It also informs anyone interested in making a film in this genre who there intended audience are and therefore one can choose to write the narrative more consciously with this in mind.

Digital cameras and camcorders are cheap and easily accessible and with the rise of the flashcard it is incredibly easy to capture footage and go straight to edit. Using a DSLR gives you an opportunity to experiment with framing and using the focus option to achieve depth of field shot if you so wish. These lightweight cameras are ideal for difficult shots that require getting into unusual spaces to get the framing you want. Because it is lightweight you can get quick OS shots, shot/reverse shots quickly without having to move a huge camera around. Also you can capture as many takes as you like and delete those you don’t like on playback. We used a Nikon D3200 with tripod for fixed shots and handheld for some of the chase. We could not have done this hand held chase with a big camera. We used adobe premiere pro digital editing software. This uses a linear timeline sequence making it easy to construct the story arc we wish by dropping the footage into the relevant bits of the timeline so it doesn’t matter when we shot the footage if it works for a specific part of the narrative all we have to do is add it to that part of the timeline. This can be then further trimmed or adjusted for contrast, exposure, and beneath the video timeline is the audio timeline where the sound attached to the video clips automatically appears. We used a Zoom 1H to record sound and then added this in and synced it up with the recorded sound from the camera. This is where the audio effects are added such as urban soundscapes and music. This can be placed anywhere in the audio timeline as the narrative requires. Once the rough edit is finished, any transitions, special effects credits and titles can be added.

Evaluation - Question 5

How did you attract/address you audience?

The most important thing in a film narrative is the opening – if you do not engage the audience with the first few minutes of a film you might lose them so an opening that poses a question or invites further investigation is essential. Using no dialogue but just following a young man on a chase through the streets of London instantly asks a question (why is the young man being chased?) and invites further investigation (I want to know what happens to him). Our opening sequence was partly inspired by, as previously mentioned, Quantum of Solace. This gripping chase sequence instantly throws you into the plot whether you like it or not. Clearly we did not have the budget or expertise to recreate this or even the necessary permissions to film a car chase of any kind but we wanted to set the chase up as the opening. This also references the foot chase scene in the Bourne Ultimatum where Julia Stiles is running from the assassin and Jason Bourne is chasing after the assassin as the cops are on his heels except in our film Ed is accidentally watching rather than following. We also have the age of the protagonists on our side. Ed is a young man as is Laurence and so our audience will be able to relate to them as contemporaries and identify with the injustices they suffer at the hands of corrupt authority something many young people understand. The film is scene through the eyes of an unseen witness, which comes into focus at the end when we see the two characters in wide shot. Other themes may instantly raise themselves in the mind of the audience as they watch the chase – is this film about obsessive stalking? Is it about knife crime – is it about the injustice of the police against teenagers and young adults? Or is it about someone literally getting away with murder? As the film narrative unfolds however we are presented with the unpleasant reality of police corruption and collusion. This is a very real modern concern. As recently as April 14th The Independent ran an article about police corruption “Evidence of police corruption relating to Britain’s most notorious unsolved murder mysteriously “disappeared” from Scotland Yard during the initial investigation, according to a leaked file.” (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/ exclusive-more-evidence-of-police-corruption-relating-to-britains-most-notorious-unsolved- murder-mysteriously-missing-9239662.html) and this is what our film addresses.

The Feedback of the film has generally been positive although there has been the suggestion that we might have made more use of close ups at the end. In terms of weaknesses – I think we felt that we would have liked to have a proper budget and time to really explore this chase sequence in greater depth.

We believe that our opening sequence fulfils its obligation to ask questions and that as the scene fades we want to know more about what is going on and so in terms of leaving an open question the film has engaged the audience well. Several respondents to the questionnaire were interested to know what happens next and had various interpretations of what would happen. Consequently we feel this opening has fulfilled its objectives.

Evaluation - Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

According to the cinema exhibitor’s association UK (http://www.cinemauk.org.uk/facts-and-figures/ uk-cinema-audience-analysis/uk-cinema-audience-by-age-and-gender/) the 15 – 24 age group is still the largest demographic going to see films. A glance at IMDB ratings for thriller films such as Shutter Island suggests that it is the 18 – 29 group who are most likely to watch this film so we can conclude that thrillers are watched mainly by people in the early to mid 20s. Film companies know this through their own market research and therefore target films at this demographic. Knowing this made us choose a young adult as our hero as he would fit into the demographic of filmgoers so that they could more readily associate with the film. They will be able to put themselves in his position and see the narrative through his eyes.

It would be more true to say that the IDMB market research breakdown reflects our choice of film narrative then the other way round. We did not deliberately set out to make a film to fit into the IMDB demographic breakdown. That would be too limiting in my opinion. We wanted to attract as wide an audience as possible and so we have not aimed the film at a specific race or class or gender – we have set out to make a film that asks questions about what is acceptable within our legal system and to make us vigilant against corruption in institutions. These issues affect everyone regardless of status as is seen in the recent operation Yewtree against celebrity pedophiles. Corruption affects everyone.

This is all confirmed in out own market research where we asked a sample population to fill in a questionnaire. The responses showed a small but statistically relevant percentage increase in the number of males who would be interested in our film due to the action, mystery and potential violence. Our research also revealed that more females are scared by this genre although that is also a reason they like to view it. So thrillers are appealing to both genders for slightly different reasons.

Evaluation - Question 3

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

Legal Deception addresses contemporary issues dealing with corruption in the legal system. It is a gritty and raw edge film which would work well as an Independent Film or a TV film for BBC or Channel 4. To get interest from production companies we would use several different approaches: We would post a high quality edit on YouTube and mass email everyone with a link to get him or her to view it and hopefully post positive reviews. We would also create a website www.legaldeception.com with links to our script outline and quotes from respected industry leaders giving us positive feedback on the film. This will be linked to the Youtube page to expand potential audience. We would arrange special screenings of the film at screening rooms in Soho such as the screening room in the Soho Hotel and create an event with questions and Answers around the film for an invited audience of industry professionals.

Using the Website (www.snatchedfilm.com) and YouTube we would approach commissioning editors at Channel 4 and the BBC. With this material we would also approach, UK based production houses such as SOHO based Tiger Aspect productions Also submitting this to as many Film festivals and competitions as possible. Including Virgin Media Shorts, London Short Film Festival, The BFI film fund and researching UK and European film festivals, and American festivals such as Rain-dance. The best way to create a buzz for this film would be to do something outrageous that would get into the newspapers or local or even National TV that might make a producer somewhere sit up and take notice. For example we could hire a couple of professional actors to play out the opening sequence for real and film it on hidden cameras but instead of confronting him in a dark alley literally try and drag him off the streets of London and into a passing car with the guy shouting and screaming for help that he was being kidnapped and see if anyone tries to intervene or calls the police – and the reveal it is all part of a film and film people’s reactions and put that on YouTube as well.

Evaluation - Question 7

Evaluation-Question 7
My Progress

The first steps in creating our film was to put us in groups and then to shoot a preliminary film to establish the techniques we should use in our film. In our preliminary we had to demonstrate an understanding in match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule, and the ability to capture sound effectively.

This is an example of an over the shoulder shot which was an important shot in our film as we wanted shots from the characters point of view as well as seeing them in shot.

When it came to planning our film we wanted to create a chase scene this would create suspense and action, which are key conventions of a thriller film. We also planned to film it in Central London, Kings Road, as a chase scene in a busy area will create a more dramatic effect. We also made sure that the area we shot in had alleys and in the end a dead end this was because we wanted the chaser to always feel one step ahead. And this is emphasized at the end with the suspenseful moment of when the chaser slowly walks down to the helpless victim. To do this we did an over the shoulder shot of the chaser and the POV shot of the victim:

  

                                Over the Shoulder shot

  

                     
                                POV shot 

In terms of cast we decided to cast an older man chasing a teenager, as it is a consistent occurrence in many thriller and action films. This choice also enabled us to aim it at our target audience of young people. Importantly the narrative of our film is easy to follow with the sequence being generic. Upon completion of the film we wanted to choose a soundtrack that matched the themes of our film and also bring excitement and suspense. The soundtracks we picked we feel create these emotions and match the film very well.