http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004thbd

1. What genre is it and how is this made apparent through the Key Concepts?

Shelf Life is a comedy and the concept of it is quite simple. A man is putting up a shelf and when he drills through the wall he accidently kills someone.

2. How does the narrative work?

 The film builds up slowly with a man walking in a room and setting up equipment to put up a shelf on his wall. It’s very simple and nothing really happens until suddenly you see him drilling a hole in the wall and then on the other side is a man whom suddenly dies in his chair. As the man moves his head the hole behind him in the wall is directly where his head was and blood is running from it. So basically the man setting up the shelf killed the old man on the other side by accident. The funniest part of this is that he is holding two awards which say: ASAP (Association of Accident Prevention) for outstanding safety. This then leads to the man drilling through a mans head which is the joke.

3. Write something about the technical aspects of the film (camera angles, framing, composition, editing, mise-en-scene, music and sound effects) etc?

The camera angles are pretty basic at the beginning because it focuses all on one shot with the man entering the room, going back out and re-enterting a few times. There is a close-up shot of when he holds the two safety awards so it’s clear for the viewer to read and understand the comedy when afterwards he drills through the mans head. The continuity of the film is very good and the editing wouldn’t have been too awkward in most areas because they’re still shots which last a long time. The music that is used enters a few times every time the man leaves the room and re-enters as credits appear such as: Directed by Charles Hendley. This sounds eery like a thriller which builds suspense leading to the comical part in the film which then reveals it’s not a thriller.

This is the close-up shot of when the innocent man is killed when the drill goes through his head. This is quite gory with the blood trickling down his mouth but the expression on his face andthe whole situation makes the audience laugh and shows it’s a comedy.

4. In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of it’s genre?

The film is quite unrealistic with the drilling part so it challenges the audiences belief in this. But this probably doesn’t really matter too much because it’s a comedy anyway and anything can happen in a comedy. It develops throughout the film by starting with eery music and slow pace action when it finally appears to be a comedy at the end which changes the audiences opinion. I think that it challenges the use of comedy because the way it begins as being a thriller is very clever when suddenly it turns into a comedy which is risky because the audience could quickly change their opinion on the film.

5. What do you like about the text?

I liked the film because I think it was quite clever as it began looking like a thriller with the suspense music and the slow pace. It then turned into a comedy all of a sudden which changes the mood of the audience. I didn’t really like it when the credits appeared because it continues with holes being drilled through the wall for ages.

This is the title scene, I like the font because it looks as if it’s a thriller or horror when the audience don’t know what to expect.

There is no music in Shelf Life. When the titles appear at the beginning there is a sound that comes and goes, but apart from that there isn’t anything else. At the end the only sound is of the drill going through the wall with the radio still playing as the credits appear.

Our first image is the title of our film – “Silent Revenge”. We chose this font because we believe its quite bold, however it remains simple with realtively spaced letters between each other. We decided to put it on a black background because its because we thought the simple black would show the darkness of the film, for example a light green would not show the seriousness of the film and would make it generally more cheerful which we didnt want to happen. The red font was then placed over the top to symbalise blood, however we also believed the red would be strong over a black background and would show clearly and bluntly, to symbalise key characteristics of the film. Therefore with this title we are tyring to keep it simple, however incorporate the darkness within it. In our film it also enters with the sound of a gunshot which is a key feature of our film and it shows the tenseness and fear that comes with the name. We hcose the name of the title because it is predominantly about the revenge and this allows us to incorporate the vigilante feel to the film, without having the word vigilante within the title as we found that many people may not actually understand. Also the word silent incorporates our location which is silent, particularly within the forest, however also within the bed where the flashback occurs.

The second frame we chose was on setting/location and is an image of the forest, we thought this shot was the best show to show location in our film as it shows exactly where the murder occured. This show shows the secluded nature of the forest with large fields, showing that it is a suitable place that a murder could in fact occur. Also the large tall tress hanging over the top help to highlight the significance and how tall the trees really are.

Our next frame shows our costumes and our props, in this case we decided to show the gun, which we believe to be a key part within our film, the gun symblaises the idea of a vigilante and a kidnap type of film, similar to that of Harry Brown. This gun was in fact a BB gun and could cause no harm and also the bullets were also harmless as the gun powder had been removed. However the feel of the bullets helps to create the tense feeling that we hoped to create within our film, the gun is also quite life like as well so this added into the affect. This also adds to the genre of a thriller type feel with the gun being a main point and as its loaded it makes it feel like something may actually happen.

Regarding the camerawork and editing, we chose this shot as a low angle over the shoulder shot as to a degree it shows the characters. This shows that Micheal Cray (Samuel Peckham) is in a dominant position shown the low angle shot and with the gun being held towards its head it also shows him to be dominant, again it adds to the tenseness and the idea to keep the viewer uncertain of what might happen later. This picture also shows Martin Stone (Justin) in a recessive position with the gun being held against him.

We chose this title font and style because the font was fairly simplisic and wasnt too fancy which was good because we dont want our film too look fancy, for example if the font was algerian it would look completely out of place. Then the red font which is good because it is a strong color which can also symablise the blood that we hope the viewerbelieve will happen.

This image was chosen in this frame to suggest genre and how the opening suggests it, this adds to the vigilante feel and we chose the image of when Michael Crayis laying in bed, we chose this image because it is a stereotypical feel that comes with out type of genre as a distressed feel oftenccurs within the main character of vigilante’s, such as Harry Brown. The lighting of this picture is also fairly dark and this adds into the sterotypicallity of what we expect of this type of film.

In the frame regarding the story and how the opening suggests it we chose an image of Michael Cray and Martin Stone with the gun being held to the head of Martin Stone. This image is a key feature of our film as he is a vigilante getting revenge on the murder of his brother and then running from the police, killing individuals that all had a part to play in the death of his brother. The gun suggests death will occur and murder will happen and this is a key part of our film. The opening also doesn’t give too much away to the rest of the film but this image shows that people will be dying with the gun, and it will be for one reason or another.

We chose this shot because it was the first time the viewer got to see Martin Stone (Justin Heron) and it showed which character had control shown with the gun, with Martin Stone being the dominant figure and Martin Stone being in the waker position, also we introduced them with titles in the bottom right to state who they are. This is a sign that it is a action film for starters, and because there is little dialogue it keeps the viewer waiting.

Our last frame is to show a sign of our special effects, in this case we have decided to show that it is in black and white which is a key special affect in our film, this was used to show that it is a flashback and the black and white adds into the feel that its older. The black and white feel also adds to our genre because often films of such a calibre are dark and dismal and we believed that would add to the affect.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The picture in the bottom left of our picture is an image of “Harry Brown” who plays in the film “Harry Brown”. His character is similar to ours particularly with the story line, acting as a vigilante as he is killing people, knowing its wrong, however for the reason that they killed his best friend and numerous other people in the area for fun, similarly our film is about “Michael Cray” killing “Martin Stone” knowing its not the right thing to do, but because he killed his brother. There appearance is relatively similar because “Harry Brown” is seen to be quite smart with the long jacket and stereotypical clothing of an elderly gentlemen, whilst our character is also seen to be relatively smart wearing a collared shirt with a black sweater and simple jeans. They are different because of the ages as our character is a young man, whilst there character is an elderly gentlemen.

The image in the top right of the square is “Charles Bronson” from the film “Death Wish”. The story of “Death Wish” is similar to “Harry Brown” as well as our film “Silent Revenge”. “Death Wish” is a man who is also a vigilante and after the murder of his wife he goes out to find the people who killed her, then one by one shooting any individual who may be involved in her death. The clothing of “Charles Bronson” is similar to our film as he is wearing quite smart clothing, however his clothes our much darker than ours, most likely so he doesn’t stand out as the deaths that he does are at night and ours are in day. Also his appearance can be seen to be quite similar with the gun being the focal point as a way of intimidating his victims, similar to our film.

The film in the bottom right hand corner is an image of “Clint Eastwood” in the film “Grand Torino”. This film is similar to ours as he is trying to restore order and his is to get back to what he believes is morally correct, and out film is about a man who gains revenge for what he believes to be correct. The clothing of the characters is very different as the character from “Gran Torino” because the character from the film is seen to been quite scruffy and messy, most likely because of the area of the house as it involves gangs suggesting it is not very nice, and therefore it would mise en scene would not be compatible and mix with each other, whilst our character is quite smart, also his props are also much larger as they use shotguns and larger guns whilst our character uses a simple pistol, which is in fact a BB gun and is therefore harmless.

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

Below is our commentary which me and Justin both did stating the above question.

Big Box Production Commentary

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryRHhvcn8s8

The media audience for our product would be mainly men ranging from ages of 18-50. I feel the reason for this is because of the content is not so appealing to females with the strong language and violence. Also the genre of action thrillers are usually aimed at men too, for example the movie Harry Brown is more for males as it contains guns, drugs and strong language.

The ages of the film is because of what it contains and this wouldn’t be appropriate for anyone under the age of 18 and we think that people over fifty won’t be so drawn to the genre of the film. If our film was an actual movie in the cinema’s we think that it would be an 18 rated film, so we have made the right choice of setting the audience as males between the ages of 18-50.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience and kept them interested when watching the film by making it quick, pacey with suspense. By doing this the film moves on at a good speed so it’s not boring and at the same time it unravels the story and gets to the end with a big build up to have an action effect.

The shots that we used were snappy between them and simple so it became easy and fun to watch. Also with the characters constantly moving it gave the viewer an idea of where the story was going and what was happening. By having the action straight into the film we could get on with the story and by the end something big would have happened which it did as the character played by Justin was killed. The title that zooms in at the end with the gun shots has a really good effect on the audience because it has an ending that leaves it with different possibilities, this interests the audience.

The black and white was something different and we felt that no one else would probably choose to do it in black and white, it gave a dark, suspense effect and made the action seem better. This has been proven because out good comments have mainly been about the black and white effect, also the gun shots at the end with the title that I mentioned.

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

We have learnt a lot about the technologies by using the process of constructing this product. At the beginning of the year I had no idea how to use the different technologies of filming as I had very little experience and hadn’t used any so advanced as they are. I also said that I would like to learn lots of new skills which is what I have successfully done, learning new ways of technoology and coming across new techniques with computers etc…now I have a lot better idea about filming and using the editing process.

I have also found that it is a lot harder to use than I predicted before which is why now I respect the filming industry a lot more. When filming and editing it takes a lot of patience and time and I felt that me and Justin used ours well which is why we finished the film on time and also edited with time to spare so we set out our use of time well.

The editing use is so more advanced than I expected with many different choices of ways to edit seperate parts of the film. There is so many things to use on the editing part of the film and I have learnt a lot about it and the use of them, which is how I have gathered skills.

The cameras and equipment for filming are much harder to use than I thought too. The technology of them are advanced and more than simple, I have also enjoyed using and learning about these technologies.

Technology

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

Looking back at the preliminary task that as a group of four we did many months ago we can now see how much me and Justin have developed in the techniques and use of filming and editing technologies of the media.

The old film was very dull and the use of equipment wasn’t used very well because it is obvious how less skilled and un-experienced we were back then comparing to now where our film is much better in all areas. Also we have proved ourselves because the old film was with a group of four and this film was me and Justin alone who were the ones with least experience, we also had a little help with filming which we directed and edited so we have come a long way from where we were when we did the preliminary exercise.

We have learnt that filming is very serious and time should be taken carefully. We did have a very small amount of time doing the task compared to the long time had to do the coursework film but before we did rush it more than we should have done which is why it wasn’t very good. The full product looks a lot more professional showing how much we have progressed. We have also learnt the skills and how to use the filming and editing equipment.

Audience feedback?

Our film was shown to a test audience and there views are shown below.

“An engaging film with a good storyline. Editing was quite pacy so it kept your attention and makes you want to watch on. Could see a woman driving the car so this should have been edited differently. Characters looked a bit young for their roles.”

We were pleased to see that they liked the storyline and that the action was quite pacy to suit our target audience. Regarding the women driving the car we didnt quite see that or believe any one else would, so yes that should have been edited differently and we do know the charcaters look a bit young for there roles, however this was the easiest thing to do in the time limit we had, and if were to do it again we would definetly look to get the characters to fit the roles in a better way.

We also had other comments from classmates:

Jack: very good film, the ending with the gun shots going back to the opening eyes and then the title is good.

Ben: the film is good with a wide use of good shots.

Ryan: good but the falling of the character being shot should have been different.

We have taken these comments to thought and we are happy with the finished product. We also feel that the ending is the best part and that we used many good shots which is why we are pleased with it. The character being shot probably could have been done better but it was hard for Justin to fall backwards with his legs already behind him and the grounding was not comfortable, so what we did was the easiest possible choice.

Without this scene it wouldn’t matter though because it still makes sense and it is basically silent anyway, although there were some good shots that will be missed out. The film has been shortened to the right time of around two minutes and we have added effects and sound/music to give it the finishing touches.

We came across a couple of problems with speaking getting the sound which we managed to cut out and make it still flow, another was when we were filming the lift shot we noticed that the camera stand was in the way of the shot but we cut it out and it looks fine as we have plenty of other shots. A final mistake we made was when we are running in the forest, on shot I am holding Justin by the back and the next I am not, so we sped this up and made it more tidy so it looks good and flows. We also added black &white for most of our shots to show the flash-back effects.

The final part that we did to the editing of our two minute opening was adding the titles, we had the  animation of our production at the beginning which we had made a couple of months ago and then we added the titles of our names, credits and the film title at the end.

Overall we enjoyed doing the editing process and are pleased with how the film turned out better than we expected.

We shouldn’t have a problem with continuity because it will all be new settings and the weather won’t matter if the change because they are al based on different days and most of it will be indoors anyway. We do plan to have everything filmed and put onto computer by the end of next week. Also everything to be edited and completed by the deadline.

We feel that what we have filmed so far has been good, some parts could possibly be improved but when editing is done and all fitted together then it should turn out as good as we imagined. Most of it has been as good as we expected and some parts better such as the scene of the lift and underground flat, that was very effective and looked real. If we can keep this going in the other parts that we still have to film then when all editing is done and it is put together as a film it should flow and meet our expectations.

The two new scenes will be a news report of Martin Stones (Justin) death and explaining the circumstances and why he could have died and who could have done it. This will then explain the story better to the viewers to why Michael killed him and why Martin killed Michaels brother. The other scene will be of the murder scene where we will try and make look real by going to the same place that we filmed and having police tape to corner it off and possibly two forensics if we can get hold of the costumes.

On the second day of filming we decided to go to Poulner lakes which was a lot easier and quicker to do than it was the previous day because of the setting. We hadn’t exposed outside yet on the previous day so the weather didn’t matter because would only be seen for the first time on this part.

We began by having a shot of the car driving in and arriving at the lakes where i then got out and opened the boot and got justin out, taking him across the ground towards the lakes. Then we filmed far away to get another shot of us coming towards the camera from where we started when we got out of the car. This was a very good long shot which we will probably keep the whole of.

The next part was of me pushing him to the ground which was quite hard to make it look real without hurting justin and also the same for when i kick him in the stomach several times. We tried to make it look real without hurting him, he did get muddy though and cold, but it gave the extra effect.

Then there was the dialogue which changed slightly but we still got everything in that we had planned to on the script. It looked quite promising I think and will look better when edited and fitted all together so it flows and actually looks like we’re arguing. We used many different camera shots and angles to give a variety and make it more interesting. Then we had the killing shot which was the final one where we had to film me shooting him in the head. This was the hardest one because we had to make it look real, so we had the camera zoom out so when edited the gun shots will echo as the camera zooms backwards to three different shots.

On our firstday of filming we had to get up early where we filmed the bathroom, bedroom and flat scenes at Justins flat in Poole. With a helper cameraman it was easier to film and we did change some of our shots that we had orionally planned to use.

We began by filming the bedroom scenes where we filmed myself in bed and waking up, then going to the toilet using a variety of camera shots. Then we added an extra couple of shots with the mirror reflection and through the door. The bathroom was next that we did which was difficult to film trying not to get the camera in the mirror so we changed the shot by facing me and Justin as if through the mirror but it did work.

Another couple of shots that we added was when i came from the bathroom and then went to the curtains and opened them whilst picking up the newspaper and reading it. Then the new camera shot that we had which was quite a good idea seeing as we came up with it on the day was through the glass in the door facing me in the room reading the newspaper which was effective.

The best and most enjoyable shots of the day was when we filmed me taking Martin (Justin Heron) out from his house. We used over the shoulder shot, P.O.V and even a tracking where Justin walks down his hallway as the door knocks and looks through the peep hole at me which was a very good idea. Then we had me taking him away with a gun to his head, in a lift, through a bulding and then into a car lot where we ran and i threw him in the boot of the car. This all looked very real and believable which is why it was my favourite part that we filmed.

The main problem that we had was trying to keep it all flowing because we had to take into account that we were going to switch from the bedroom scene and the kidnapping as flashbacks when editing, so it was hard to remember for everything to flow. we decided not that we had to get it all done on the same day to make sure for continuity reasons so the lighting and everything was the same.

Wednesday 10th February 2010: Bathroom, bedroom corrdoor, front door and car scenes.

Half Term – Saturday 13th February 2010 – Sunday 21st February 2010: Forest scene and more to the first scenes.

Above is the link of our production sting on youtube.

Here is the production that was created at my house. I have already explained how it was made because it was done exactly how I planned to and wrote earlier on the blog under ‘Production Ideas’. There were a problems with filming this because it was very difficult to get it right with several takes of the gerbil as it kept moving, I also enjoyed doing it. This will be put at the beginning of the movie to show our production name: Big Box Productions.

It will be at the beginning of the movie.