Skills Development.

To improve my skills I took a lot of interest in tutorials, this has really helped me improve my coursework because it has sharpened my knowledge and understanding so improving my work overall. Tutorials in the form of a video, such as the one below helped me understand how prezi worked and make the most out of the experience of using it. From these tutorials I have learnt how to create 'paths', 'framing', improve presentational skills and many more useful tips. This has benefited my production because now I can show my work on prezi, this is a real positive because prezi is brilliant for showing information and it is easy to retrieve and read.


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Also to improve my knowledge of camera angles I used an internet site called media know all

the link is: http://www.mediaknowall.com/camangles.html This site helped me find out about

different camera angles and how/when they are used, this really supported me particularly when it came to making my trailer. I can now be more confident in trying different angles and shots to make my work more effective. I print screened some of the information I learnt about which is shown on the left.

To make the most out of blogger I took a lot of interest in the 'Blogger's help' channel on YouTube this internet site; http://www.youtube.com/user/BloggerHelp helped me post items via my phone (shown below), upload videos, embed prezis and many more. This has benefited my work because it has helped me keep it in one area and improved my application to study because I now know what I need to do and what I need to improve.

My final products will dramatically improve based on the useful skills I have learnt from looking at tutorials. It will improve because I can organise my time better, i can do this by learning how to produce posts via my phone, which makes it easier and more convenient due to not having a computer/laptop with me at all times. Also, looking at prezi tutorials give me a better understanding of how to use the site, this in-turn will help express what I have created/trying to show with my work.

To improve my development I went to Teesside University (Symol shown on the right.) a teacher from the university gave me an insight on how to use professional cameras and how to edit my work using Final Cut Express. (Symbol shown on the left.) He helped me understand how to do tilt shots, record and edit my records. This workshop made me get to grips how to create different shots and edit them more effectivly so my final product because more

professional and authentic. The picture on the right shows my getting to grips with working the camera and how to use different buttons and effects. At this stage I was recording different shots which I had learnt and putting them into practice.

The video below is what I created on Final Cut Express, it shows an advertisement for people who are wondering if they want to do AS Media Studies, it persuades them to do just that. It helped me put the skills that i have learnt into action. I took a lot of time perfecting the cuts between different shots so that characters dialogue fitted in well and precise. Another skill I learnt from this production is how to fade in and out music for when I desired it. I got given the video footage, but it was all mixed-up and longer than I wanted. I did a lot of editing to make the footage fit in to what I was trying achieve.

Recce

A Recce is a pre-filming or pre-photography visit to a location. The purpose of the visit is to decide upon the suitability of the location for shooting. I will need to comment upon the access to necessary facilities, assessment of potential lighting and/or any potential sound problems.

The location is very important for the creation of my film, this is because it has to link to the story of the film, it will help the audience get more involved/be more interested in the trailer if the locations are more believable and authentic, also it will help the audience understand the characters better. To make my film better I took a lot of locations into consideration and finalised on a couple of areas in Darlington which are deprived, run down, working class and

contain graffiti; perfect for the setting of my film. The

map below shows some areas which I intend to shoot in.

I also want to shoot in Richmond as well which is 8 miles from the Darlington, this is because it links to the

Darlington area, it too has areas that are deprived and run down. It also has a police station and bus stops which I intend to include in my production.

The shot shown on the left is of a house which I may use with the parents of the main character outside.

The picture shown on the right is of the police station i intend to use in my trailer, police

stations symbolizes crime and the audience can jump to conclusions after seeing the establishing shot of the police station

This area in Darlington shown above, is ideal for what I intend to create because it shows a run-down area which is not looked after, as you can tell from the over grown bushes, cracked pavement, and the graffiti on the wall. The lighting may be good in the day but the shade from the high-rise buildings either side of the area may mean that it will be darker than I may want. It is away from the main roads so will be quiet which will help maintain the focus of the actors and will mean I won't need to edit out unnecessary noise.

The area shown on the right is also located in Darlington, in the town centre this means that it will be very loud and busy with a lot of people passing and traffic noises this may mean that we

will have to film at a quiet time like late at night which may effect the lighting, so it is a hard area to film in. However, the park bench makes it a good location because it will create a good shot where we can show different characters passing

there time, just like in real life.

This will help show my genre of youth crime because people stereotypically view crime with

poor deprived, not well looked after areas like the one shown on the left. I will include high rise buildings in my production because most crime happens in town/city centres were areas are built up. Also high rise buildings create a shadow which is good for lighting because I want to include dark gloomy areas to represent negative situations which the characters get involved in.

The area shown on the right is an underground walk way located again in Darlington's town centre. Based on the shelter and lack of lighting, a lot of crime will occur here, so it is perfect for situations which I want to include in my film. But, because it is a walk way into a busy area of the town centre it may be hard to produce the shots without people from the public disrupting my work.

Making my Recce has made me pay attention more to how important the location is in making my trailer. It has shown me that the location really helps portray the genre and show the realism of the lives the characters live, this really gets the audience involved in the film. So I need to really consider a lot of different locations that can help me really express the genre that I have chosen. The locations have to include a number of things including graffiti, dark alleys, run-down areas and over -grown vegetation. If i can find locations that contain all these different characteristics then the genre of my film will be found much easier from my audiences perspective.

I am very lucky because most of the locations aren't busy areas, this means I don't have to ask for people's permission if they accidently get filmed during my recording. The only area I will have to ask for permission to film in is the police station location.

I had to create a risk assessment and hazard evaluation sheet for every location I intend to shoot in, I produced them because they help improve the health and safety of my actors and myself. they also help me in choosing my locations for shooting because if an area is to dangerous then it is not worth risking filming there. A couple of forms which I completed for different locations are shown below.

Photo Shoot Plans

In my photo shoot I have decided not to use natural light and use a standard set-up in a studio. This involves the key light, this is the main light located near the camera. I also intend to use the fill light which is placed the other side of the key light from the camera but lower down, this helps fill any shadows which may be seen. This will effect my magazine front cover and poster because this shot will help me get rid of any unprofessional shadows and produce the perfect lighting for what I intend to create.

If I don't use my first photo shoot plan as shown, I will most probably use one like the one shown above. It is very simple to set up but very effective, it makes the photo like very natural, but by using photo shop, it can make the picture look very striking. The natural lighting and plain background can be altered in effects on photo shop to what I desire.

The best photo shoot plan to show my genre will be dark, low-key lighting. The audience will interpret this as a crime genre because they now can see the location as dark and negative. Showing that the characters only come out when the sun goes down and do illegally things which they may not be able to do in the sunlight because they may get caught. A set-up like the one shown below will help show the darkness and the street lamps, if positioned correctly then, it will show not a lot of light in the shot, but enough to see the character, and see their facial expression and body language to help show the mise-en-scene of the film.

Flatplans & Fonts For Film Name

Film Poster - I have named the film 'Deuce' which is derived from the French word meaning 'two'. This represents the two split personalities of the main character, the film name is located in the centre of the poster and will be a contrasting colour from the colour behind it so it's more eye catching. I think I will chose a graffiti-like font so it provides an indication of the genre, but more importantly the font has to look aesthetically pleasing. The main character is shown with a baseball bat over his shoulders with his hood up with a very serious face. I will try to re-create a black eye with make-up so the crime genre is shown to the audience more effectively and efficiently. I have chosen a medium shot for the character so the facial expressions are shown more clearly. I will try to introduce the producers and actors involved below the name of the film but not in big letters because it is not the most important information which I am trying to show. In my final product I will also try to include a slogan of some sort to help show the audience what the film is about, and persuade them to go and see the film. The poster doesn't have a high a lot of depth of field because it helps show the characters situation, stuck in his world and can't get out, just like a jail, this shows that the character doesn't have any freedom to do what he wants to do. The location well not be a huge problem because the shot will show most of the character, rather than the location, but the location need to be thought about because it will effect the lighting, I am going to use dark lighting to show the dark personality of the character so preferably and plain background which is done with natural, dark light.

Film magazine cover - I haven't thought of a name for my magazine yet, so I have just included 'masthead' where I feel the masthead will be positioned, I have positioned it across the page and across the top, the name of the magazine is very important, that is why it is in the largest font and at the top of the page and that is why I am taking my time to decide on a final name. I will try to include lots of sell lines in my magazine front

cover because it sells the product better, it is a great way of advertising what the magazine has to offer. To make the magazine more authentic and professional I have included the date of release for the magazine, the price and the bar

code. The audience will believe/trust the information from the magazine better if they feel it is professional. Important information is highlighted by being underlined, or placed within a star, this makes it stand out more and more eye-catching to the audience. The picture on the front cover helps advertise the most important article of the magazine, I will try to create a very dramatic, eye -catching picture which helps show the genre of the film through the use of mise-en-scene; showing what the character is wearing and including props such as the baseball bat shown in the version I have created. I will also try to invite the audience into the film by showing the audience the personality of the main character, I will try to show this via facial expressions and body

language. Again, for this photo I will use either a plain white background or a dark natural setting, as shown in my photo shoot plans. A natural dark setting will show the dark, negative personality of the main character in the photo. A plain, white background helps the audience concentrate on the main photo, rather than the lest important information around it. I have decide to create a wide shot because it shows the hole body of the character this is good in expressing mise-en-scene in the form of costume, people can see the genre much better based on the costume and the prop.

After I have produced my flat plans I thought about how this will effect my final product, after creating my first draft for my poster, I think I will have to bring into consideration the use of colours and the how important the main picture is in the poster. From asking people about posters in my audience research, I have come to the conclusion that the most important part of the poster is how eye-catching it is and how well the picture portrays the film. I will try to improve how attractive, eye-catching and pleasing the poster is by including bright colours and makes sure the positioning of the picture and words are thought of and look well placed within

the poster. This will help satisfy the audience's perception of the film.

My magazine cover flat plan made me think a lot about how important it is to attract the audience. The use of sell lines which are highlighted, underlined and put in a big font make information appear more important and attract the audience more to the product, this will effect my final product because; I will try to include the use of highlighting, underlining and/or font size to interpret the importance of information which is shown.

After doing my flatplans, I then brought into consideration different fonts which I can use to show the name 'DEUCE' and thought about if they would look good if I placed them in my flatplans, here are some different font which I have found to help show the genre of youth crime to the audience.

To look at different fonts for my film name i used www.dafont.com, it is a great website which

shows different possible fonts for whatever I want to produce. I am going to investigate different fonts on this website and how well they help show what the film is about.

I want to achieve a bold, strong font which portrays the 'hard man' look of the main character. I looked under the section of 'destroy fonts' and it came up with some very useful results, such ones are shown below.

First Font - Destroyed License Plate

I think this is a good start as a template because it portrays the rough, untidy life the characters involved in film live in. The sparks around the name make it stand out and will attract the audience to the name. The only problem with this font is that it looks unfinished and scruffy which may make the audience perceive a poor film.

Second font - Destruccion

Very similar to the first one, but the word look more worn-away and run down, interpreting the location of the film. The sparks around the word is harder to identify than the first one. This is a positive because it makes the word look tidier and more professional.

Third Font - Defused

This is the final font that I thought would look good for my production under the category of 'destroy fonts.' It still links to the rough, jagged and ruffled look which I am trying to achieve.

Fourth Font - Graffiti

I also tryed to create a font linked to graffiti, the one shown above is a graffiti font which links to the crime and negative aspect of the film, many of my audience will be of an age were they have seen or have tried graffti art so relates to their lifes, which may attract them to the film more affectivly.

Fifth Font - Amstersdam

This is another font I experimented with, its came under the category of 'Graffiti.' Its not as strong as the other graffiti- themed font due to the smooth sides, which makes it not look as strong as striking to the audience. To make the font look more aggressive i tried to put the word in capitals but the font didn't allow me.

To help me decide on which font to use I asked 30 people from my target audience to choose their favourite, based on the results I will use the most popular font for my production.

The two most popular fonts are 'Destroyed license Plate' and 'Destruccion' both with 11 votes a piece, I am happy that two fonts are really popular because I can now choose myself which one is better, for both my magazine cover and film poster I can now evaluate how good both fonts look and fit in with my production. So now I will use either one of the two fonts for my work or use both fonts, but for different parts of the production process.