Goodbye

Dear moderator
Its been a long, tough and fun journey when making House Of Heartbreaks. There were ups and downs but we all managed to get through it and gave it our all. I hope you've enjoyed watching the opening scene to the film and reading my blog.
Thank you

Josh

Final Film

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

It is clear that I am much more capable now than I was when I carried out my preliminary task. If we look back at my preliminary task it wasn't a very well-produced scene and had numerous errors such as continuity issues and the breaking of the 180 degree rule which would leave the audience confused as to where the character is on screen. We had to keep these rules in mind whilst filming our opening scene. The match-on action in our opening scene for 'House of Heartbreaks' was key due to the fact that the central idea of our scene is Kevin having the exact same argument with 3 different girlfriends. In order to get the viewer to see that the scene is all supposed to be one argument, we had to create clear and fluid match-on action. The script and shot list was carefully planned and came into better use compared to the script and shot list for our preliminary task. In the preliminary task, we was not getting marked on the project on which we was producing, so we decided to cut some corners and forget about making a story board and writing a script since we didn't think that it really mattered, but after the scene was edited, we could see that a story board and script was needed because there was no fluidity so we knew it was key to create a script and story board. Again like the match-on action, the script had a big role in my opening scene of 'House of Heartbreaks' because the dialogue was necessary to illustrate that the concept of the scene to fluidly show the same argument between Kevin and three different girlfriends but making it appear to be one argument and to make sure the actors and actresses do the same thing each time we film a shot from a different angle to ensure the scene flows. When it came to filming, we was tempted to film on both sides of the room, but we could see that we that this would break the 180 degree rule which we broke in the preliminary task and this would leave the viewer confused as to who the characters are talking to and also, we was going to film on the other side of the room because from one of the angles which we first filmed, we would be able to see the camera man, Conner,  in the mirror, so we had to place the camera in the right position in order to ensure that we do not see Conner in the mirror. In the preliminary task, on the 30th second, I sit down with my legs facing the camera and then it cuts to an over the shoulder the shot facing me and my legs are facing Conner which is bad continuity and fluidity, so we made sure we was standing in the same position every time we had to cut and shoot from another angle to make sure we are not in a different place when we shoot from the next angle. Conner did suggest to just film the shoots on their own which we done in the preliminary task, instead of playing the whole scene through each time but like in the preliminary task, the fluidity was not good so in order to create the best fluidity we would have to act the scene through each time from different camera positions.

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

I have learnt to use Sony Vegas pro editing software and techniques on how to cut down clips and edit them together to create fluid match-on action in my opening scene. Also I learnt how to add effects such as the credits and I found out how to add in a soundtrack over the scene but after looking at soundtracks, we came to a decision that none of them went so with the scene so we did not add anything in over the back round of the scene. I also learnt how to use a camera to film and how to place everything in the frame of the shots.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We initially had the idea to revolve our scene around a break up in order to make it relatable to a wide audience because of the fact that this situation has most likely happened to a large proportion of society. This is how we intended to address the audience by making our idea a familiar situation that the audience could relate to. We made sure that there was good enigma so that the audience would want to stay and watch what happens to Kevin and see whether he finds that match made in heaven. We are mainly aiming the film at British middle class younger citizens of Britain because I feel it would not quit appeal to the american audience because they are used to seeing the nice sides of Britain such as the typical films such as 'Notting Hill' and 'Wimbledon'. Although my film is a rom-com and the audience for that is dominantly female but still can appeal to the male audience since its from Kevin's point of view and it will connect to them and they will be able to see Kevin's side of the story.

The mans been dumped. We have all been there!

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

The target audience for our opening scene would be 12 and above. I have chosen this certificate because the research we carried out into film certification of romantic-comedies showed us that they were all either 12A or 15 certificate. I decided to choose 12A instead of 15 because our scene would not contain any inappropriate content and the also no swearing. I also made this decision because our film is mainly aimed at adults but the adult will be able to make a judgement on whether  they would want their child to see this film. All of the information we got for this area of the project was from the BBFC website.

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

A small distribution company would be most likely distribute my opening scene of 'House Of Heartbreaks', one example of a fitting distribution company would be 'Warp Films'.

 The reason I feel this company would distribute my film is because they have a history of producing award winning films on a very low budget. An example of this would be the hit 2006 film 'This Is England'. The budget for this film was just £1 million which is not a lot for a film budget but yet it still beat 'Atonement' in the BAFTA awards that year. The new James Bond film 'Skyfall' won the same award this year and they had a very large budget. So I feel my film would be distributed by a small distribution company such as 'Warp Films'. Warp Films are known for distributing films which plot lines which can be controversially dealing with issues such as rasiam and many more things and produce original ideas for films. I feel that if I pitched our film to the company and about how it represents middle class and that is challenging the codes and conventions of rom-coms and Warp Films do this with some of the genres they specialize in so there fore i think I would have a chance with them.

Also big institutions would not like to take on such a small film like ours because it would be a risk for them if the product would not do as good as expected. Another reason why they would not take on our film is that big conglomerts  want their film to appeal to global audiences and big countries that dominate the film institution like Hollywood. I don't feel that my film would appeal to global audiences seeing as it is british and the film shows middle class through out the film and global audience such as the US are use to seeing the high class side of Britain in film such as 'Notting Hill', 'Four weddings and a funeral' and 'Wimbledon'. In the film Wimbledon the protagonist even tells you he's high class as in the script he says that one of the key things to being champion is to be hungry for it but he admits there was no hunger for him, meaning that he has been born into a rich family and doesn't really need to be champion, but others who have been born into a poor environment and have a challenge to become 'champion' and are hungry for the challenge. So in the end a big conglomerate wouldn't want to risk taking on my film because it may not appeal to global audiences and would not be a success.