How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Stereotypical Interpretation

My opening is very stereotypical as the idea that Afro-Caribbean population in London are all a menace to society.  The two types of the population have associated with one ethnicity group. On one side the positive side of those people who are good people who just get mixed up with the wrong people in the hope for a better and slightly easier life. However on the other side the select few who choose to permanently live their life in crime. From an early age these members of society have decided to fuel their lives by crime, as it is the “easiest” way to get money, some people in these social groups are so desperate to gain the finer things in life, that they are willing to take the risk despite knowing the consequence.

During my opening these two types of personality have been reflected through my two characters. The first personality (shown through the character of Del) is genuinely innocent but somewhere down the line got mixed up with the wrong people so she is forced to the point where it has got out of hand leaving her defenseless looking for a way out. On the other hand there are those who fully know the consequence of what they are doing but choose to do it anyway. This could be down to different situations, which include;

1. They joined a gang
2. Or it could be a case of revenge. 
3. Due to their financial background
4. It could be down to emotional trauma. 

But rather than following all the different types of stereotype I felt that I would revers the gender stereotype to try change the representation of women in media showing that women as a whole can be just as rough and vicious as men because some people overlook women when it comes down to the issue of violence due to the fact that women are meant to be ‘inferior’ compared to men. If we are to look at the representation of women 100 years ago.....


 .So in my 2-minute opening I have touched onto a controversial topic switching the balance on what is “normal” and what isn’t. The link to my target audience is that I have raised issues they may be able to level with in some way.  I challenged the stereotypical representation of women by making the heroin the main character and only a minor male role. The representation of women in the media has changed over time for example women are seen as more independent now, films are now becoming to the idea of female characters being stronger and more independent. 

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

My film opening very much follows that of the major film companies, in fact my film opening has directly based upon the format of the market leader.  The market leaders are companies like Warner Brothers Studios established in 1929, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation which was founded in 1935 and Paramount Pictures Cooperation founded in 1912. For decades these film companies have been providing the market with blockbuster Movies, Tv Shows and even Music in some cases. then you have some smaller institutions which include;

1. Universal Pictures
2. Columbia Pictures
3. United Artists 
4. HanWay Films 
5. Walt Disney Pictures
6. Three Mills Studios

These examples are only a select few,  list goes on...

The film starts with not one but two different types of institutional logos. First we have the Film Institution ‘Han Way Films’ along with other film institutions that may have contributed in the production of the film (in this case Adulthood) like ‘Stealth Films’ along with ‘Cipher Films.’ Once the institutions have been introduced then and only the can the film begin. This has been the basis of how my film opening has started.  Rather in my case I decided challenge the form of a film gangster opening as in film a female protagonist has been used which completely goes against the stereotype that males are the only gender that could be considered a menace to society. So rather than follow the crowd, Motherland has taken an alternative view on things by having a female gangster as the main character with a male only playing a side role. Adulthood was the inspiration for my film so all my film is another interpretation of the Gangster/Youth/Coming of Age genre.

Adulthood has been the inspiration behind Motherland, the environment has be sculpted around values brought in and throughout both Kidulthood and Adulthood. Gangster Films are developed around the sinister actions of criminals or gangsters, i.e. underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and doing drug moulding their lives around the law violently decapitating   their way through life. the connection between Motherland and classic 1940s criminal mob film or even modern gangster films i.e. Adulthood is the innocent person who gets mixed up with wrong people looking for a way out. In the 1940s, a new type of crime thriller emerged, more dark and cynical. 

1940's Gangsters

Gangster stories in this genre often highlight the life of a crime figure or in this instance the crime figure looking for a way out of their wayward lifestyle in personal power struggles and order figures i.e. the male antagonist. Headline-grabbing situations, real-life gangsters, or crime reports have often been used in crime films. Gangster films are usually set in large, crowded cities, to provide a view of the secret world of the criminal but in this case as this film was not produced under a multi-million pound film institution: so dark nightclubs, streets with lurid neon signs, fast cars, piles of cash, sleazy bars and  contraband were a bit far-fetched.

There is not we know about the character other than his name is James and that we assume that he is also part of this drug gang. What we do know is that he is not the nicest person and that sometimes he can be very intimidating. he is wearing the typical 'Gang' type clothing which consist of dark jeans and a lot of black. This is because it is easier to sneak away if they were ever to get into trouble, enabling them to get away easier and 'drift into the night.' the first and final impression that we get from James is that he is not a nice character and that he can be vicious but unfortunately the first time we see this character appear in the fim is at the end only to find out the death awaits him.

Overview

Thoughts and feelings?

Now that I have finished my first project I look at the my opening and see all the things that went wrong in my opinion.  Once  I get my feedback these will be the first areas I improve as I see the following went wrong;

1. In the middle of the opening the frame was not in the in the right place.
2. It is a little over the 2 minute mark.
3. Some of the audio doesn't correspond with the speech (however not very noticeable)

But in the on the other hand there were some aspects that worked well. These were the areas I did not have as much trouble in.

1. The transitions worked.
2. The heartbeat flat line at the end looks effective.
3. The slow motion clips add to the being created.

At first final cut pro was difficult to get with grips with, I had trouble importing clips and sound but it took a while of getting groups and countless youtube tutorials as well as written tutorials. However being quick to learn I got to grips with Final Cut Pro. There were also a few times were I lost all my work so I had to start from scratch twice. But with all that said and done it became easier and easier to edit using Final Cut Pro.

As for my sound track, my first track was made but I felt that it did not really fit with the genre/mood I was trying to portray.

Character Profile 

Full Name: Delilah 'Del' James 

Age: 16

Height: 5'7

Weight: 65 Kg

Ethnicity: Afro-Carribean

Emotional Background: Traumatic

The Editing Process

Why did I not film during November?

During the month of November my main focus was to film and to edit. By Mid-November the main bulk of my filming was done, however because I was filming both my cousin and my sister I could only film during alternate weekends. Meaning the shots I took had to be close to perfect and there had two be at least 5 shots for each frame which proved quite tedious when filming in streets as we had to be careful of cars and pedestrians. I also had to make sure the camera was relatively close to the area being filmed because there was not access to a boom used in professional productions which means that some of the speech has to be recorded again because there were other elements which effect how clear the audio is.

There is also the last bit of filming that has to be done. As the bulk of the filming has been done, the main story line is present. Now all that needs to be done is the tweaks, for example there is a frame at the very start where  was filming in the mirror and because I was filming the reflection when my cousin turned around you see her in the view of the camera.

What is left to do?

The only things I have left to do is to make the adjustments to the whole clip which include;

1. Add the Institution logo
2. Film the missing clips 
3. Adjust the audio
4. Edit the opening one last time

Once these five things have been adjusted and finished then my film opening will be ready to upload and ready to upload. 

Character Update

What have I decided regarding characters?

I have decided to use my cousin instead of my sister. I realised that it would not be smart to film once every two weeks because I will not have enough time and definitely will not have enough time to edit it  all. So despite what I may have decided earlier about having my sister as the main character I have now told my cousing to watch at least one of the series I am filming my opening to on a parallel basis. I have also decided to start filming this weekend and continue after half-term, after half-term I will film everyday and hopefully within two weeks I shall be finished filming. Then that will leave me the rest of November to edit. I was also re-thinking my storyboard. I need to assess the storyboard and figure out whether the soundtrack is appropriate, it seems a bit to lively and jumpy and I am trying to create a serious mood. This is something that I will revisit when i have finished filming and adding the last touches to the editing.

Now concerning the persona of the actor (my cousin) she is very quiet and usually excels in education, always getting the best grades so she theoretically speaking she can easily play the good half to the Character "Del" with ease however the contrasting  personality she might not be as smooth as  when portraying the innocent side. But practise makes perfect so the quicker I start editing the better quality it will be.

Music on GarageBand

When I found out that i would not be able to use the sound track Bad by Wale Ft Tiara THomas. It has a little prelude that I was interested in putting in at the start and although that there is one little bit that doesn't fit, because it is only a word, the general themes will be there and the audience will see it as a powerful prelude and get into quickly. It talks about how everyone is getting caught up in things they are not ready for and how they are doing things they are not ready so I though that that will suit 'Del's Character' but then I was told that we would have to come up with our own soundtrack so that is exactly what I did. I managed to finish my soundtrack and in total it is around 2:37 seconds so along with the 30 second intro it should be around 3 minutes and roughly covers the time in which our opening should run for.

My Finished StoryBoard

I have finally finished my storyboard and I think that it the storyline of my opening is finally finished. It is complete with transitions which are mostly cut scenes, as in Kidulthood the opening consist of mostly cut scenes with only a few sweep screens. However I do have a few flash back transitions, as a result of  the type of way I am filming the scenes. I have realised that in order to get the filming finished as quickly as possible then I will have to use my cousin for all the shots that do not include her face because my sister is only around every other weekend and it would not be smart to wait to film only on fortnights because there would not be any time.

So I have decided to use  my cousin  in all the shot that you do not see her face because then I can film my almost everyday of the week and it would be more efficient to film that way. Also, having the christmas deadline I only have juts under 2 months to get everything done. Which although sounds like I have a lot of time it isn't if we factor weekends into that and half term I really only have about a month and a bit. Now although I know you might be thinking "Why not jut use your cousin for all of it?" The reason is that she is naturally an innocent person and I'm not saying my sister fits the role, but because she has seen things like Top Boy, like Anuvahood and also the fact that she lives in london she can relate a play the character better.