Final Product

Evaluation

Evaluation

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


Codes and conventions from Caitlin McPoland on Vimeo.

How does your media product represent particular social 

groups?





3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media 

product and why?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract/address your audience?







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

Technology Eval from Caitlin McPoland on Vimeo.

ScreenShots from Editing Process

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have 

learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since the preliminary task I have learnt a vast amount however I feel that the most important thing I have learnt is that it is vital that the script is understandable and the storyline is clear, I feel that our preliminary task was difficult to understand and therefore this caused it to suffer in regards to the overall quality of the product and the audience was left slightly confused, we tried to make sure we did not repeat this mistake in the creation of our final media product whilst at the same time we thought it was extremely important that our final media product raise the viewers curiosity as it is the opening of a film and we wish for it to capture the audience. 

We have also learnt several things in regards to the actual filming process, I believe that the quality of the shots we produced this time not only were of far better quality but also were significantly more difficult and required a greater level of skill as we were making use of several handheld shots and a tracking shot which we found to be extremely difficult to capture correctly however I feel we did eventually achieve this, we did not attempt as difficult a shot in our preliminary task as we felt we would be unable to do it correctly however we realised that it was very important within our final task that we showcase a range of shots varying in difficulty.

This time we also managed to make sure that everybody did there assigned task successfully and that the work load was shared equally, we struggled to achieve this with our preliminary task as we did not do a detailed role allocation and therefore there was slight confusion in regards to who was to do what, We felt that it was important to avoid being in that situation again so we made sure everybody was clear as to whet they were to do.

Another thing that we have come to realise in the importance of sound and audio, in our preliminary the audio we used was not of a particularly high standard and we  recognised this soon after finishing the editing process, we felt it was extremely important that we improve this for our final task and I think that we have achieved this in our final media product, we spent a great amount of time debating as to what type of music we wanted in the background of out media product and I feel the acoustic music we used was extremely effective and so were the sound effects that we have included, we felt these sound effects were necessary as they helped us to convey the fact that the film was indeed sci-fi and not a thriller. However upon the topic of audio we have discovered how verbal communication is not indeed necessary throughout the media product in regards to conveying the situation that is occurring, I believe that in our preliminary we possibly included to much speech with the intention of making the situation clear when in fact we actually did the opposite and managed to confuse the situation which cause the audience to be left confused.

We also learnt the importance of having plenty of research and having a definite storyboard and screen play previous to actually starting to film, we did not really do this previous to our preliminary and this meant that we were following very little direction and we ended up having to make several changes at the last minute which lowered the overall quality when compared to what it could have potentially been if we had of done this research and planning. We made sure that previous to starting to actual film our final media product we knew exactly what we were going to film on each day and estimated how long this would take, this meant that we were more efficient when it came to filming and therefore had more time to edit and I believe that  overall this benefited our media product greatly. We also made sure this time to prepare our actors better as with our preliminary task we ended up having to feed lines to our actors as we were filming, this made to filming last significantly longer and made the editing process significantly longer. In order to prevent this from happening again we made sure that the only speaking actor we had, which was the news reporter, was given her line weeks in advance so that she had the opportunity to learn her lines previous to filming.

Overall I believe we,as a group have learnt a vast amount since our preliminary and that our standard of work has greatly increased over the past weeks as well as our ability to work in a team.

Films about clones

Films About Clones

                                                                                    

  

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule 

Sunday 13th March 

• 
  
• Reshooting solo scenes
• Everyone filming bar Maeve
• 11-2:40
• Mary Peter's / Farm house

What is needed:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Actors
• Extras
• Suitcase
• Bandages
• Blood
• Shot list
• Costumes

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Role Allocation

DIRECTOR - Andrew Murray

CINEMATOGRAPHY - Caitlin McPoland

WRITER - Conor Joyce

EDITING - Maeve Ramsey

MUSIC - Maeve Ramsey

We intend to stick to these role allocations as closely as possible however we do acknowledge that we must be flexible as there may be days when not everybody is able to attend, however if this occurs we will still make sure overall that everybody does their fair share of work.

Actor, prop and costume research

Actor Research 

For our media film, we require two main actors. The first actor will be a young teenage boy travelling suspiciously to the clone farm, and our second actor will be the farmer in which he meets on the farm.

Farmer:

• For research, we decided to look up the stereotypical look of a farmer so that the rural setting will be more obvious.               

• From looking at farmers, we noticed that they seem quite humble and are one with the earth.
• In our film, the farmer is running an illegal business, and is under huge risk of prosecuation if caught. At the beginning, he should seem like a regular farmer. Although, when the farmer is bringing the boy to the barn, he should have a sense of authority and be powerful due to his position. This will show that he has two sides to his personality; his farming side and his clone farming side. 
• In the film, there is no dialogue, so we do not have to be concerned with how the farmer will sound like. 
• The movement and gestures of the farmer should change throughout the film. When we first see him, he should look tired and as if he has worked hard. When the man arrives on the farm, he should walk with large strides and appear to be in charge.

• We picture the second character as quite young, around the age of seventeen. 
• In the film, the boy, like the farmer, is also doing something illegal. He should look as though it is the first major crime he has committed. This way, we think he should look quite vulnerable, thin and not with a lot of physical strength. As a result, he will struggle to drag the bodybag. 
• We have decided to not include any dialogue, so we do not have to think about how the boy will sound.
• Both the movement and gestures of the boy will show how anxious he is carrying out the task. 

The Third main actor we need is an actor to play our News reporter, in order to make this look as authentic as possible we have looked at previous news reports from all news networks such as BBC News.

Having realised that there is a relatively equal amount of male and female news reporters we have decided to have a female news reporter as this tends to be a male dominated film opening and we wish to reinstate the gender balance.

Prop Research

The first prop that we will need for our film is a bag which will have the clone inside of it. We had a few ideas in mind for the size of the bag. 

We thought about using a snowboard bag for the prop, as it is long and would be able to fit a person inside of it.

We also had the idea of using a body bag, as it would be specifically designed to fit a person. This idea was abandoned when we decided it would be too obvious that a person is inside, and it would take away from the suspense of the story.

A suitcase was a potential idea to carry the clone, although we quickly decided it was not a possible option, as our clone would not fit inside a suitcase.

Eye Patches will be needed for the clones around the farm. As the clone farm is used for buying new body parts, the patches will suggest that their eyes have been taken. 

These sort of eye patches looked too comical for us, so we decided against using them.

Fake Blood

Fake blood is another prop which we will need for our film. The blood will be put on other clones around the farm, showing that their injuries aren't cared for very much.

We thought about purchasing fake blood, although we ultimately agreed that the tubes did not have enough blood for needs. We then thought about making our own fake blood, so we researched ways to do this.

We found a way to make fake blood through using Kool-Aid and egg. It seemed the easy method, as mixing the egg and the Kool-Aid was the only thing required to do. Unfortunately, 4-6 packs of Kool-Aid is needed for this process, and the product is imported from America, it is rather expensive. We came to a conclusion that this method would not be possible due to the price.

Another possible method was using chocolate syrup and coffee. This method also needs red food colouring and cornstarch. We were drawn to this idea and it seemed to give a goo effect of dried blood, although further research allowed us to see that there were easier methods than this one.

The final method we look at was a method which used ketchup, red food colouring, corn syrup and water. We thought the ingredients worked well for us as we all had them already at home. In the end, we decided on this method. 

Costume Research

Protagonist- Our protagonist due to his age will be dressed in causal clothes however they will appear to be slightly worn due to the fact that this character has been dragging an extremely heavy bag a significant distance through fields, he will ideally be wearing a black and white checked shirt and black trousers as well as black boots, this is due to the fact it will appear casual and it is a timeless style so it will not look out dated as this film opening is set slightly in the future.

Clones- Due to the large amount of extras we will require in order to accurately portray the fact it is a ''Clone Farm" we have decided to allow the extras to provide their own clothing with the only criteria of it being extremely worn and ragged, this is to reflect the poor conditions the clones are kept in and this will be evident due to the rips and stains which can be seen on the clothing. There will not be a set colour that the clothes will have to be as we feel like it would not be realistic that an illegal clone farm would provide uniforms.

Main Clone- The clone that will be in the bag throughout the majority of the film opening will most likely be wrapped in a bed sheet, we feel it would be unrealistic that the protagonist would take the time to dress his clone in real clothing due to the lack of empathy and humanity experienced by the protagonist as the clones are viewed as not being worth while and this is why they are simply used for spare parts.

The Farmer - The farmer will be dressed in a red checked shirt, trousers and boots as well as a flat cap. This is due to the fact that is is a typical outfit that tends to be worn by the stereotypical farmer and is extremely casual so it should be easily obtained by the actor playing the farmer.

News Reporter-  We have decided to dress our News Reporter in a long coat and a coloured scarf as this is typical of news reporters that we on TV today and this will make our scene appear more legitimate and realistic. We intend to try and find a female actress aged over 30 to make it look more realistic as it would not be believable that a 17 year old could be a news reporter.

LOCATION

The News Report - For the report on the banning of clones, we wanted an official setting as this announcement would be considered extremely official in a political sense. Initially we thought of using outside the city hall, as its rather grand appearance would suggest authority and power. However using this location creates numerous problems, including trying to film when there are common flag protests, and the amount of teenagers and young people who congregate there who would probably interfere and disrupt our filming process. This lead us to consider other options. Just down the street from the city hall are the courts and we've decided to film just outside the gates. It is very clear by looking that these buildings are official and important, plus there are rarely any large groups of people in front of them.

The Railway Tracks - Finding an abandoned railway track relatively close to where we all live was rather difficult but after consulting nearly everyone in the room we found one. In Crumlin there is an unused rail line that appears derelict enough to fit in our setting. It can also be accessed quite easily and us filming there won't disturb any nearby residents., whilst at the same time creating the aesthetic we are looking for. 

The Farm- Finding an appropriate place to shoot for our farm shots has proven to be relatively difficult as it has been difficult to find a farm we are able to obtain permission to film upon, we are currently considering a farm in Newry and one in Carryduff we will have access to due to family relations however both of these places are quite far from where we live and this will cause there to be an issue in regard to transportation of both ourselves and our actors.

We decided in the end to film in Lady Dixon Park, Belfast as we feel it is the visual that we require and it convenient in regards to location.

Setting Research

Our film opening will be set in the future however it will not be far into the future, the mise en scene will not be particularly different from what it would be in modern films set in today, the only thing that will differentiate it from today will be the fact that it involves the fact that cloning has become a possibility and also an over used service, so much so that it has been recently made illegal which sets up the storyline for the opening. We considered setting it further in the future but realised that this would be extremely difficult in terms of mise en scene as this would require extremely futuristic clothing and costume in general, we also wish to make the area look relatively bare to emphasise how isolated the area is as this is necessary to convey the illegality of the situation.

Music and Sound

Depending on the atmosphere we create throughout the editing process for the filming opening we will more than likely be using either synth music or synth music, they are very different types of music but we feel that either could work.
Synth



Acoustic

Pitch

       

Animatic

StoryBoard

Script

Treatment

Treatment:

The film opens with a news report, telling us that the process of ‘cloning’ has become illegal. The news report sound bridges into the opening establishing shot, showing an unidentified man walking over a hill and trailing a large bag behind him. He continues walking both suspiciously and with a sense of desired anonymity. We are presented with a close shot of a bird, free and proving its brainless nature. The man comes to an abandoned-looking train track which he walks along as it is his path that leads him to his destination. 

We are given an experience of the nature around the track; one tuft of flowers which looks out of place. It is though these flowers are the soul survivors of a wildlife massacre. The man has slipped a map into his back pocket, and we are greeted with this. The map is half-way out as though its struggle of escape has been defeated by tiredness and the busting of lungs. The map is rescued by the hand of the man, like a claw machine at a funfair, only it isn’t set to give out a prize once every few hundred goes. The man peers with determination at the map, carefully looking at it and gliding his eyes across the large paper. The map is risky evidence that the illegal transaction has occurred, so he sets it a.flame to it and leaves it to crumble and disappear from the earth. The man pushes open the gate of the farm, and he creeks, creating an uncomfortable noise. 

There is a fast pan from the man’s head to the farm. The barn is then shown. From a distance, we see a farmer. He appears unsurprised that a man has set foot on his field. The man greets the other man, and approaches him, diving into conversation which our ears aren’t open to hear. The farmer does a gesture of ‘follow me’, then the pair walk across the field. There is then a track shot, showing multiple bodies. One may be missing an eye and wearing an eye patch, whilst another one may have a missing leg, or a missing head. The sky is the limit. 

The pair then enter the farm, violently throwing the bag onto the floor. The farmer slowly zips open the bag to reveal an exact replica of the man. It is his clone.

Nothing outdates faster than the vision of the future.

The protagonist will be dressed in casual clothes, appropriate for his apparent age. These will consist of an oversized white and black checked shirt, along with skinny jeans and black boots, the condition of his appearence will be poor, he will look slightly fatigued and his Clothes will more than likely appear dirty and crumpled which will have been caused by dragging a heavy bag through fields for a long distance.

The location we will be using will be a rural setting, this is in order to emphasise the fact that these so called "Clone Farms" are illegal and have to be hidden away from civilisation and The government due to the risk of prosecution the people who make use of these clone farms would face if they were to be found out to be using these "clone farms"