Final Video

Vengeance - Media Studies A levels from Shehryar Ali on Vimeo.

Media Final Assignment

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

My assignment for the media studies class was to make an opening scene of a film on the genre of your choice. I chose the Genre that of an Action/Thriller movie.

The opning scene starts off with the name of the first production company by the name of Starfall productions.

This follows with the names of the other two production houses. The names of the rest of the Cast and crew along with the names of the producers, director and actors feature slowly as the scene develops. The opening scene does not show any action scenes however there are some codes and conventions used in the film that may be featured in an action movie such as gunshots, rage and sadness depicted by the main actor.

In terms of Costume, the actor is topless in order to show his body which is in fact stereotyping as many action films do show the hero or even the villain to show his muscular body. While the other actor wheres a football jersey and shorts to show that he is a kid.

In terms of editing, the conventions of an action film were used which show sudden cuts, suspenseful music, shaky camera movement etc. All these codes set the perfect setting of the opening scene of a Thrilling Action film with a deep, sad and action based plot.

The props used in the film were really important as they help set the theme for the film. They were chosen really carefully and included items such as guns, newspaper clippings and cigarettes etc.

It is typical that in an action film there will be shooting and there will be guns. So following that I also used guns in my opening scene.

In order to show some anxiety in the character I showed cigarettes on his nightstand which shows that the character is a smoker and is dealing with stress or sadness.

2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

In order to engage with the audience I kept the videography really simple. In my opening scene you will find a lot of emotion which is developed by the emotions shown by the actor and the music used. In my experience I find that the audience although loves a lot of action scenes in an Action movie they find the movie better and more interesting if it has intense plot as well. In my opening scene you find a guy sleeping while having nightmares which shows his son being murdered, as his child is killed the guy wakes up and in the following scenes we can see so his emotions which show sadness and heartbreak caused by the loss of a loved one. Everyone has experienced the loss of someone in their life and therefore can connect with the character on an emotional level. The movie is based on Vengeance for his son and the opening scene shows that the character is really dedicated to finding the killers of his son and I believe anyone in his situation would feel the same rage and thirst for vengeance if their loved one is murdered. The intensity of the plot is created in the opening scene which I believe would keep the audience interested in watching the movie. I used a Canon 60D to achieve the best possible result for the audience to enjoy.

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

In the beginning of this assignment I had little knowledge of editing but somewhat an idea of filming a scene. I had earlier used the Canon 60D to shoot shortfilms and music videos but on a much simpler scale. Shooting this video was a new challenge for me which with my little experience I handled quite well. In order to shoot the perfect opening scene for an Action/Thriller movie i had to first research and learn the different codes and conventions of an action film. I learned about different camera angles and movements which are used in an action film and the reason behind as to why these are used. 

I learnt that every shot has a reason behind as to why it is taken that way for example a long shot is used to show the area or the setting/location or a close up shot is used to show the emotions and reaction of someone etc.

We were also given a prelimenary task in which we had to shoot a film scene in which we practiced the over the shoulder shot, two shot and the 180 degree rule which has helped me prepare for the final assignment.

Through out this project my editing skills have improved a lot. In the beginning i had no knowledge on how to use Adobe Premier Pro however over the course of the project i have learnt the software a lot. I learnt the software by watching clips on the internet and by the help of my media studies teacher.

I have also learnt that in order to produce a film research work and pre production work is essential. You have to decide location, costumes, props and the time of your shooting beforehand as it helps with better shooting and gives you more time to shoot you film.

4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

All of my film was shot on a Canon 60D DSLR Camera. I took various shots some with the 18mm-55mm lens and some with the 50mm lens.

For the wider shots in which I wanted to show more of the setting i used the 18-55mm and for the shots which required more attention on the details of the room i used the 50mm lens.

I used the Computer provided to us by the school in media lab to do all the editing and research.

For the editing of the opening scene i used the software Adobe Premier Pro. In the beginning i had absolutely no knowledge of how to use this software however by the end of the project i was really familiar with the software mostly due to its user friendly interface which was easy to get used to.

For the inspiration of my film i looked at various short films on vimeo and even went through a lot of movies and carefully observed their opening scene and researched on the codes and conventions which make a proper opening scene.

After a lot of hardwork, research and commitment, here is my final project:

https://vimeo.com/138245152

Questionnaire

I have made this questionnaire to find out about the preference of people of different movies and how different things such as education and age effect their choice of movies.

Questionnaire

Name: ________     Age: ___    Gender: Male or Female

Occupation: ________

Education: ____________

              _________________________________

What type of Movies do you watch?

Action         Thriller         Comedy          Drama         Crime         Horror         Romance      

Sci-fi           Mystery

Do you prefer watching movies at your home or the cinema?

□   Cinema

□   Home

How often do you watch movies in cinemas?

□   Once a week

□   Once a month

□   Twice a month

□   Other: ____________

What makes you want to watch a film?

Famous Director       Famous Actor/Actress        Genre       Storyline      Good Trailer

Which Film Industry’s Movies do you prefer?

□   Bollywood

□   Hollywood

□   Lollywood

How much do you like watching movies?

□   I really like watching movies.

□   I like watching movies.

□   I neither like nor dislike watching movies.

□   I dislike watching movies.

□   I really dislike watching movies.

Name a few of your favorite movies

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Title Sequence Analysis

Research Work: Skyfall Title Sequence Analysis

Research Work: Opening Scene

Research Work: Opening Sequence 
Movie: Predestination

Analyzing the opening scene of Predestination it was quite different then other movies. The Opening scene of the movie starts off with a blank screen and narration in the background. "What if I could put him in front of you? The man that ruined your life? If I could guarantee that you'd get away with it would you kill him?" This Quote gave the viewer some idea of what the movie could be about such as Betrayal, Crime, Drama and Action. This Quote is important as it is used later in the movie as well.

The next scene starts a sort of teaser of the movie which shows a man walking in the corridor of a building. People are walking up and down the corridor and their clothing is that of the 60's or 70's. Emphasis is given on the man which shows us that he is an important character.

The character is carrying a briefcase in one hand and a violin case in the other. Emphasis is given on the violin case giving the viewer the idea that it is an object of importance. This emphasis is really important because the violin case is an essential part of the movie. Till this point the character's identity is not revealed and the viewers are left in a suspensed mood.

The character who's identity still remains a mystery goes down some stairs to a sort of boiler room. The location in the background shows some sort of underground boiler room. The lighting here is dim the kind of you would find in a boiler room or basement etc. The character puts down the briefcase and the violin case. Suspensing and thrilling music plays in the background creating a an image in the minds of the viewers of what might take place next.

The character pulls off a cover a underneath we see a timer connected to some barrels. A closeup shot is taken of the timer which is counting down telling us that it is a bomb of some sort. At this point the viewers get some idea of what the character might be about, maybe an agent of some sort to disable a bomb? In this scene the shots range from medium to closeup shots of the character working to diffuse the bomb. Camera angles vary from low level to eye level shot. In the next scene another character is introduced whos identity is also hidden. The main character and the other character exchange some gunfire and as the main character almost diffuses the bomb it denotes early leaving the character burnt. In this scene the camera angles range fom high level to low level and at some points canted shots could be seen. Camera shots varied from long range to medium with individual shots.

In the above screenshot we can observe the main character who is burnt badly from the face holding thr violin case. Referring to my previous point where the violin case was emphasized upon it can be seen that it is indeed an object of importance. The character presses a button on the violin case and that is where the scene ends abruptly to this...

The viewers are again left here with many questions such as what happened when he pressed the button? Did he disappear or teleport? Why wasn't the main character showed? and lastly is this the same character from the previous scene? Over here we are shown someone (possibly the main character) wrapped in bandages. This is an extreme close up shot of the face and the camera angle seems to be a birds eye view.

The characters point of view is shown and the character looks upto these words on the ceiling. The viewers are left wondering what these mean and are left with the question of where the character is.

In the next shot we are shown a medium/long range shot of what seems to be a hospital room. The character is shown to be in the bed bandaged heavily and that gives the viewers the thought that this person could be the same character from the first scene. The location is really important in this shot as the previous scene gave an impression that it was set in the 60's or 70's but over here the room looks quite modern. Another thing that is quite noticeable is that it is not your ordinary hospital room and seems to be like a secure room of an intelligence agency or the army. The lighting of the room also gives the impression that the character is not in a hospital.

The scene then shifts and we see two men in suits debriefing the character. They present him with a medal and this shows that hes either military or a part of a secret organisation. They also talk about the mission he was sent on clarifying us that he is an agent. The character talks about a 'fizzle bomber' possibly someone he was sent to catch and and the viewers might also think that the fizzle bomber was the second character firing in the beginning. The two men then tell him to rest and recover before he is sent out on his next mission.

As the character recovers we are shown that he is in a room with articles and notes on the wall all about the fizzle bomber. The character is narrating in the background about how the fizzle bomber has killed so many people and that he has not been able to catch him yet. He then says that the fizzle bomber's grand plan is to kill 10,000 people in New york city and he has to stop that from happemimg.

In the next few shots we see that the character has had plastic surgery and has recovered well and is now about to be sent on a mission. The character is shown to be getting ready in the above shot in a room where there are clothes and the room seems quite similar to the hospital type room and this implies that he is in the same building. The two characters from the previous scene return to prepare the main chracter for his mission. A woman walks in holding the violin case which again points to the fact that it is a very important part of the movie.

The woman sets a date on the violin case and wishes the main character good luck. The viewers get some idea that maybe the violin case is a sort of teleportation device? As everyone says goodluck they leave the room and the opening scene of the movie ends with...

The Movie Title 'Predestination".

Preliminary Task number 2

Task: Poster making

We were given a task to recreate the poster of a movie of our choice. In this case I chose Men In Black 3. The software used to edit the poster was Adobe Photoshop. 

The original picture used was the one above. Using the Pen tool in the photoshop software I was able to remove the people from the original picture.

The Poster was based on the style of the following two posters.

The Layout of the poster regarding the text arrangement was based on the first poster. The arrangement and style of the characters was based on the second poster.

The Background of the poster was taken from the above image.

The Gun was again Pen tooled from the above image.

After some final touches such as color correction etc. the final Poster that I made of the Movie Men In Black 3 is below.