Final Opening Sequence.

My role within the group

Initially we shared the roles between us, i was in charge of filming and editing and the girls took the other parts like costume, setting, producing and directing. I filmed and pieced together the first edit with input from the girls with what parts they liked the best. When we came to re-filming parts of our first cut, again i filmed and the girls gave input as to where they thought shots would look best.
As filming progressed and we were running short of time i showed Camilla the basics of cutting and piecing together the footage incase she wanted to come and edit some in her free time. As unable to make a filming date Bex and Camilla went out and filmed the bike scene again as this was one of our weaker areas.   They came back with some really nice footage which i put together and added onto the rest of our opening sequence.
As we couldn't quite make up our minds about what titles we liked the best we each took it in turns to edit and create titles. After producing a design for the main title for our film that i thought worked really well we focused on the other smaller titles. Bex, Camilla and yas worked on these producing ones with colour and then ones without. They chose the ones they thought best and added them into our opening sequence.
I was absent for a double lesson in which Camilla changed around the titles after recieving some feedback. She shortened the titles and changed the transitions to something more interesting. She also changed the title design and moved it to the end of the opening sequence, this acted as a closure.

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

We haven't needed to use any of the preliminary task yet- apart from the opening of a door- as our opening sequence hasn't required any of it. If we were to continue with our film, they would more than likely pop up. Being a Chick Flick there would be conversations and differences between characters in which the shot/ reverse shot would be perfect for. We do not need these shots in out opening sequence as the character doesn't come into contact with other characters.

We have however, used the match on action when opening the door, falling down the stairs and opening the curtains. Although these can be quite tricky to match, the final outcome is very effective.

I have learnt about the 180 rule that applies when two characters are having a conversation. It states the two characters or elements in the same scene must have the same left/right relationship to each other. for example, if the camera crosses the imaginary line it becomes a reverse angle and the scene looks odd.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

1- iTunes
We imported our soundtrack onto iTunes and then transferred it over to premiere.

2- Google
We collected images for research from this.

3- Garage Band 
Our soundtrack was created on this.

4- Blogger
We uploaded everything we did onto our blogs.

5- You Tube 
We used this when researching, we also uploaded all of our cuts onto this for feedback.

6- Facebook
We used this to communicate when planning filming.

The Macs had lots of programmes, many of which i'd never used before. The cameras and tripods were pretty straight forward and we didn't really have any problems with those as i'd used them before.

Adobe Premiere was the main programme we used. We learnt how to import and capture media off of the video cameras, how to cut footage and add in sound, as well as using all the transitions and sound effects. I had never exported media before so i learnt how to do this as well as uploading footage to youtube. 

Camilla used Garage Band when creating the soundtrack for our opening sequence. Camilla and Bex had created lyrics that told the story of Chandler. Camilla used ambient noises and artificial beats that were available when creating the track. After doing this she recorded herself rapping the lyrics and then changed the pitch of her voice to make it more comical. When she had created something she was happy with she exported the track into iTunes ready to use on the final piece. 

we used this website to decide in the rating of our film; http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

5. How did you attract/ address your audience?

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is Billie Packer, she is 15 years old and lives in Broadstairs, Kent.

She isn't too bothered about her appearance, but likes to make an effort. Most of the time she dresses casually, jeans and t-shirts. She loves to shop and spend time with her friends and family, go to the cinema and read. Her favourite shops are River Island, New Look, H&M and Boots. 

She enjoys films like Mean Girls, Harry Potter, Legally Blonde, Sex and the City, Bridget Jones, Titanic and Love Actually. As well as seeing these at the cinema she also likes to buy them on DVD to watch at home with her friends. She also watches television programmes such as 90210, One Tree Hill, Friends, X Factor and Britain's Next Top Model. Her most popular channels would include E4, Channel 4 and ITV1. 

She likes to listen to music in the charts and regularly listens to Radio 1's chart show. She isn't really into ''dub-step'' or ''rock'' but prefers something she can sing along too. 

I think our film would appeal to Billie as she is quite stereotypical. She enjoys doing girlie things and spending time with her friends, therefore if this film was shown at her local cinema it may appeal to her as it is similar to some of her favourite films. 

3. How does your media project represent particular social groups?

We chose Bex for the Role of Chandler as we thought- although not a ''nerd'' in real life- she would portray the role the best and she is naturally quite outgoing and quirky herself. Some of our inspiration came from Ugly Betty- for example- the hair and the thick rimmed glasses. She is also able to throw together outfits which Chandler appears to do in the opening of our film. Other inspiration came from images of nerds and characters from Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen 1, 2 

Lola in the film COATDQ is not very popular and the girls that are popular tend to pick on her. Lola is able to stand up for herself and doesn't take things to heart. Chandler is also a target for the girls in her school that are more popular.

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

When creating our production logo we wanted something that was unique to us. We decided to combine our initials to make a title for ourselves. After a few different ideas we came up with the name ''BJuicy Productions''. Yasmin created our finished logo on Adobe, she added flowers and chose a font that represented our genre well. 

A production company is a company that is responsible for physical production of new media, performing arts, film, radio or a television program. They may also be responsible for raising or funding for the production. A production company that may produce our film could be Disney, as they have produced films like Ice Princess, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and The Lizzie McGuire Movie. Although perhaps not the most suitable as the content won't be appropriate for the audience Disney aim for. Something more suitable would be Paramount Pictures as they have produced films such as The Prince and Me, She's Out of My League, Mean Girls and Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging. 

A distributor is someone that is responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing. Again paramount would be the most reliable as they have been going since 1912 and already have films in the making for 2015. 

Our production company is written at the very beginning of the sequence, backed on a black background. There are three main actors who's names have been written over moving footage of them, the text is white and clear and easy to read. Directors, Producers, Costume, Editing and Camera have also been written in this way but come before the actors. The same font has been used throughout. This helps link the opening titles together. 

The main influences for us have been Mean Girls; Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen; The Lizzie McGuire Movie, 13 Going on 30 and Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

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

The Title of the Film.
The first frame shows our title, this is displayed at the end of the opening sequence. It has been produced on a black background, and the colours kept quirky to tie in with the rest of the film. The font used is.... with a gradient of pink to blue. We looked at the titles of films like, 13 going on 30, Mean Girls and The Ice Princess. These titles has something that fit in with the genre, and a theme that ran throughout the titles.

Setting/ Location.
I have chosen a shot of Chandler jumping across her bedroom for this frame. The reason i have done this is because it shows the character in the location she spends most of the opening sequence. Although she does venture outside i feel as though it is the shot in which we learn the most about Chandler.  The Lizzie Mc Guire Movie uses several shots similar to ours, this shot in particular shows the main character in her bedroom. We can tell from the props what kind of character she is, and by what she is doing and how she acts. This is something we wanted to create when setting up our opening scene.

Costume and Props.
I have chosen this particular shot for this as it shows Chandlers costume and her 'cereal cycle', one of the props that Chandler designed herself. It shows the audience that she is quirky and sees herself as a bit of an inventor. Costume and Props are a typical media convention and are present in every film. Here chandler is wearing a scarf, leotard, skirt and a coat. Her bike is a prop, as well as the cereal she has just filled the bowl up with. The majority of Chick Flicks rely heavily on the costumes and props to show different social groups and to progress the narrative.

Camera work and editing.
This frame shows the transition between chandler moving from one point in her bedroom to the other. The reason i chose this shot for camera work and editing is because we didn't use many different shots. The majority of our shots cut to one another, this gives us a professional finish. We wanted the audience to be able to follow the narrative, so kept the editing simple.


Title font and style. 
Our title is at the end of the opening sequence. The background fades from the final scene to a black screen where the title then appears. The colours have been kept within the Chick Flick genre. A simple font is common in chick flicks.

Story and how the opening sets it up. 
I have used the shot just after Chandler falls out of bed to represent this. I feel as though this sets the audience up for the rest of the film. We are shown the main character, in a surrounding that is personal to her. This sets the story up as we can see what kind of a character she is. She has just fallen out of bed, this also hints at her personality and could suggest that there will be a comic element to the film.

Genre and hoe the opening suggests it.
For this i have used an image of Chandler dancing in her bedroom. Again this shows the surrounding, they are typically pink, a colour that people associate most with a Chick Flick film. This shows the genre most as most Chick Flicks have scenes in the characters bedrooms. It is a place that represents the characters most as it has been decorated entirely to their taste.

How the characters are introduced.
Here i have shown how the ''popular girls'' have been introduced. The scene changes from Chandler to the girls arriving at school, and locking up the car. They are much more confident, and this hints at them being a little more popular and grown up than Chandler is. The medium show used shows the Characters in the location and allows the audience to see their costumes. Their posture is straight and their heads held high.
Characters in films like Mean Girls and 13 going on 30 are also introduced like this.

Special Effects.
Chick Flicks don't really require and special effects, so for this i used the transition shot again. I would class this as a special effect as it moves the character from one place to another, in an effective way.
Special effects are more common in action and sci-fi films.

Feedback- class members/ friends

Emily 
Very entertaining, good elements of a chick flick.

Emma
Entertaining with stereotypical characters that represent your genre well. Ends with a point that would make me want to watch more.
I do think you could have put more thought into your titles, they're a bit bland.

Shot List

Shot 1: Medium shot of Bex lying in bed

Shot 2: Long Shot of Bex lying on the floor having fallen out of bed

Shot 3: Medium shot as the camera tracks Bex gets up off the floor and walks over to the light switch

Shot 4: Medium shot of Bex as she walks over to her ipod
Shot 5: Close up of her iPod as she presses play
Shot 6: The camera tracks Bex in a medium shot as she opens the curtains and picks up her clothes
Shot 7: Another medium shot as Bex hops across the screen
Shot 8: As she hops the other way
Shot 9: Medium shot as Bex dances around in her room
Shot 10: Medium shot of Bex as she darts out of her bedroom
Shot 11: Medium Long shot of Bex a she runs out of her room and skids along the hallway
Shot 12: Long shot into a medium close up of Bex skidding down the stairs
Shot 13: Medium shot of Bex as she grabs cereal and runs out the door
Shot 14: Medium shot of Bex from the other side as she does this
Shot 15: Medium close up of Bex's legs as she hops onto her bike
Shot 16: Medium shot as she pours the cereal into her bowl
Shot 17: Close up of a puddle as she rides through it
Shot 18: High Angles Long shot of Bex riding her bike, the camera tracks her as she does so
Shot 19: Medium long shot of Bex, again she is riding her bike
Shot 20: Medium shot tracks Bex as she attempts to blow up her tires and then stand up again
Shot 21: Medium shot into a long shot of the ''popular girls'' walking into school, the camera tracks them as they do so
Shot 22: medium shot of Bex with the other girls just in view
END

Analysing own title fonts

Here are a few of the texts available on Premiere. We played around with the texts available until we came up with things we thought suitable. Some of our finished pieces can be found below.

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Here is the title for our film. We have used the font Bell Gothic Std, the text itself is white and has a pink shadow to it. The font size is 51. 

I think this text and colour combination works well and matches the genre of our film. The pink glow informs the audience that the film they are about to see has a girlie element to it. 

^
Camilla went back into our film and changed the titles to something she thought more suitable.
The font- Adobe Casino Pro, size- 179 and has been made bold. The colour combination is representative of our genre.

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Here are the fonts that the other girls have picked  out for our credits. They have chosen to use the title font and use of shadowing, this helps the credits flow, it shows that they are linked. I like the use of the pink text and it stands out against the background.

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Again, Camilla played around with the fonts a little more until she has something she thought suitable. The font is Adobe Casino Pro tying in with our title. It links the two together. The size of this font changes throughout. The colour white allows it to stand out of most of the backgrounds it is placed.

Here is our final production logo that Yasmin made.

Finalising the production logo

As we had created so many different production logo's we needed to pick our favourite.

Working on the project

Here we are editing our footage.

Order of Credits

''BJCY productions''


''presents''


Produced by
Yasmin Stageman

Directed by
Jessica Oxley

Camera and Editing
Jessica Oxley and Camilla Gill

Sound
Camilla Gill and Rebecca Reynolds

Costume
Rebecca Reynolds

Rebecca Reynolds as Chandler

Yasmin Stageman as Brooke and Camilla Gill as Bailey

''SEX DRUGS AND DISCO BALLS''

Fourth cut

Our fourth cut contains the new footage that Bex and Camilla filmed taking on board the feedback from Miss Stone. We replaced the old bike scene with the new one. We have also added in appropriate sound effects and transitions we thought suitable. We will now continue to play around with the titles until we get something we are happy with.



Miss Stone felt as though we should extend our opening so that you get to know more about Chandler as a character and the way the other girls react to her. She said it is clear that Chandler is trying to impress but we are not sure how other girls take her.
The girls plan to film the extra footage on Wednesday 6th April. 

Third Cut

Camilla, Bex and Yaz tried out the timing of the bike scene by adding in the original footage. This gave us a rough idea as to when the track would finish and determined whether or not we would need to add in any extra footage of Chandler dancing. We do not need to add any extra footage as long as we fill the gap with new ''bike scene''

Continuity Task

Match on action. 
Match on action is where you connect two clips together following the same movement. It can be tricky to edit as you have to make sure the match is perfect otherwise you will have the door opening twice. 

Shot Reverse shot.

This kind of edit can be used to show a conversation/ interaction between two characters. It allows you to see who the characters are speaking to. 

Overall i think that Yas, Camilla and I edited our footage well. I filmed and then the girls edited.

Final Script

ACT I

Scene 1

Long shot of chandler in bed as she sleeps, she rolls over and falls out of her bed. The camera stays where is is but follows her as she goes to turn on the light. Medium shot of Chandler as she approaches her iPod. As Chandler presses play the camera cuts to a close up of the iPod and the track begins to play over the top. The camera then cuts to a long shot of Chandler opening the curtains. The camera cuts to another part of the room as Chandler picks up her clothes. Chandler begins to get undressed, as she throws away her pajama top the screen fades into her hopping across the screen trying to put on her socks. The camera remains in a mid shot as she hops both ways. 

The camera then cuts again to Chandler dancing in the middle of the room. She is dancing like a robot in time to the music. She begins to spin round and in result of this she falls to the floor. The camera cuts to floor level and it is here that Chandler realizes she is late.

Chandler then runs out of her bedroom skidding out of the door, she then runs down the stairs falling over on her way.

The camera cuts to outside her house and Chandler runs out the front door. The camera tracks her as she climbs on her bike. The camera cuts again to a mid shot of Chandler as she fills up the bowl with cereal. She goes to take a mouthful before she rides off.

There is a long shot of Chandler as she rides away.

                                                Scene 2

The camera then cuts to a long shot of the girls supposedly getting out a car. The camera tracks them walking up to school and we see Chandler running up to join them. The popular girls flick their hair and Chandler tries to mimic them. 

CHANDLER
Hey girls!

Problems we faced/ what went well #2

We managed to get the tripod for our second shoot. I'm pleased with the shots we produced as they are much more steady. The footage was also a little easier to edit as i wasn't trying to fit it around a ready made song. It was also easier as we were able to learn from the first shoot, and i knew what we needed to film in order to make the editing easier.

We planned to film Chandler arriving to school one week but were unable to as members of the group were absent from school. We did manage to film them a couple of weeks afterwards but had to change the script a little. As we were unable to get the bike that Chandler originally rode to school we decided to just have her joining the girls, who appeared to be getting out of a car that was already in the car park.
When piecing together the new footage i was worried that there wouldn't be enough to fill the 2 minute period that was needed. If this does happen to be that case then i will go back to earlier footage and add more of Chandler dancing at the beginning. 
Whilst i continued with my blog Camilla, Bex and Yaz tried out the timing of the bike scene by adding in the original footage. This gave us a rough idea as to when the track would finish and determined whether or not we would need to add in any extra footage of Chandler dancing. We do not need to add any extra footage as long as we fill the gap with new ''bike scene'' footage. 


We showed the edit that we have so far to Mrs Stone, who said the beginning ran nicely, with good elements of a chick flick. When it got to the bike scene she said it wasn't as comical as the first half, and that we'd need to think about re-shooting for it to match the rest. She also commented on the colour change on one of the outside shots, so this would need to be re filmed too. 




All members of the group contributed when filming, either by setting up the shots, saying where they thought they'd look best, commenting on camera angles and removing items from the set that they thought inappropriate.