Main Task - Dear Dad

Character Profile

First Name: Jamal

Middle Name: N/A

Surname: Johnson

Nickname: N/A

Home: Oxfordshire

Age:16

Hobbies: Studying, Reading, Playing Games

Occupation: Student

Goal/ Dream in life: To make his Father proud

Realationship: Single

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour : Brown

Personality: Calm and respectful

 Jamal is looking to avenge his father in the boxing ring who sadly passed away in a brutal boxing match. Jamal was a straight A* Student but then it the horrible events occurred on that night. One evening he decided to stay home and watch his fathers big fight against Dante on the Television but little did he know that was the last time he was ever going to see him. It took Jamal 2 years to build up the courage and strength in order to make the decision that he too wanted to take up the sport to avenge his father in the ring.

Preliminary Task

In my Preliminary Task a couple are breaking up after their relationship just hasn't been working for a while. It starts with the boyfriend walking into the canteen to sit down and speak to his girlfriend who looks rather confused and troubled. The tone is meant to be calm and depressing. The boyfriend does not take the news well and hits her can of drink onto the floor before storming out. We recorded the can from 2 different angles (Match on Action) which took many takes to make it look as if we only recorded it once as it was hard to hit an object into the same direction twice. The actors were Robin Priest and Rebecca Hudgell and I recorded and edited the footage.

During the conversation we used a reverse shot to show both their facial expressions as they talked. When the boyfriend first touched her hand she moved away and he said "whats wrong?" but we didn't show his face, this gave an effect that something wasn't right and made the audience want to see their reactions and their faces.

We decided not to cut to much of the background noise out as we wanted to create a busy canteen atmosphere as if this was all in front of a lot of people and the boyfriend was creating a scene rather than just have them sat in an empty canteen. The non diegetic music also added the effect of anger and frustration from the boyfriend as he stormed off through the double doors.

That was my first group but due to people leaving the school I had to form another new group and this is Our Preliminary Task:

Evaluation - Question 1

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

My media product is a Sports Drama Genre similar to Rocky.

To make sure that we achieved our genre we made sure that our editing, sound effects and mise en scene were perfect and clearly indicated our genre to our audience. For lighting to we chose to do it mainly during morning to show how our main character would wake up early in the morning to train no matter how harsh the weather or how tired he was. We chose a motivational song to go along with it that built the effect of power, strength and determination. We also chose to use fast cuts in the scenes when we were editing to build the effect of speed. This made the training look intense and gave it more impact on the audience. We didnt want to record our piece in a park or just somewhere on the street so we decided to record in the best settings possible. For this we chose Isis running track after getting permission from the mananger, Gyms for the weight lifting and a drama classroom with lights for the boxing clips.

Boxers usually train on treadmills in gyms but we chose to have our boxer doing laps around our running track, this made challenged our idea of a conventional media convention but it wasnt pushing the boundaries as much. We also had to make sure we didnt make it to much of a music video. For this we had to add a voiceover and also make sure there were clear moments were music was not being played.

From the screenshots below you can see some of the ways in which we tried to follow the convention of our final piece.

We re-created the normal Push ups, Weightlifting and Running as Rocky did in his training.

But we also tried to challenge our convention by showing Jamal punching in a flashing atmosphere rather than on a boxing bag or in a gym. We did this to create the effect that he was still a beginner and learning the basics aswell as showing that he doesn't have the equipment needed to complete his training fully.

Overall we stuck closely and didnt challenge the convetion as much in order for it to be distributed more by bigger companies. Sometimes change and difference is a good thing but our story line was intresting enough for us not to have to challnege to convntion to a limit where the genre would be confusing as to what it was.

EVALUATION - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation - Question Number 3

What kind of Media Institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our films genre, Dear Dad, is a Sports drama film.

It is most likely to have a mainstream audience that would be played in the Odeon Cinema which is mainstream rather than a Phoenix Picturehouse which is an alternative. The reason for this is that our film is modern with a good storyline and just isnt a genre that would suit the Picturehouse.

Potentional Companies to broadcast our film include:

Columbia Pictures
United Artists (who distributed Rocky)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Paramount Pictures

United Artists have produced films such as Rocky and The Big Four. Rocky is also a sports drama similar to that of ours as it includes a good storyline, but also plenty of action and boxing accompanied by motivational music (Eye of the Tiger). They would be good to distrubute our film as it is almost as if Jamal'sa younger Rokcy who's fighting to avenge his father. Rocky also made over $225 million and was shot on a budget of under $1 million. With this in mind the audience who enjoyed Rocky would also be intrested in our film and would want to watch it.


Warner Bros. Pictures have produced films such as Invictus. Invictus is a biographical sports drama film directed by Clint Eastwood starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Just like United Artists, Warner Bros. is also a very famous and well known mainstream distrubtor who are known for creating a range of films. As Invictus is also a sports drama and was very popular, Warner Bros. would be perfect to distrubute our film Dear Dad.





These are some famous Production Logos:

EVALUATION - Question 4 & Question 4 Feedback

Who would be the audience for your media product and why?

Our ideal audience is candidate number 5.

Name: Ahsan Manan

Age: 15

Hobbies: Football, Muay Thai, Watching Movies and Going out

Candidate Number 5 seemed like the ideal audience as he is also a similar age to our main character Jamal. He also enjoys comedy films with bits of action and loves fighting including in his films. He also has a clear knowledge of what boxing/fighting movies should be about and what you'd expect to see in them. We also decided to follow his advice on having a twist at the end but are unsure about what the twist is going to me. Another reason why he is our ideal audience is because he also has a knowledge of what it is like to grow up with an different culture in england and what family life is like. Jamal is from a black background which means that his upbringing is different to those of his friends. He would probably have been told to never fight and that he'd never get anywhere in life but he's out to avenge his father and prove everyone wrong.

EVALUATION - Question 5

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We chose to attract our audience through the use of a Movie Poster. Movie posters have been around for ages and the audience a tiny glipse of what the films about through the name, caption and main image.

We were inspired by the Rocky poster as it is of a similar genre. In the poster there is a main dominant image of Rocky, the main character' in a typical boxing pose showing that hes ready for anything. Along with this is a bold title saying 'ROCKY' with a small boxer inside the letter 'O' Which really captures the audiences eye for detail. The background also inspired us as it showed what rocky was fighting for, in this case himself, his country and village so we used this to inspire us for our background. The one lined quote at the top also gave us ideas for our movie poster and we chose to have a quote on ours aswell.

When it came to our Movie Poster we decided to have a main image of the main character, Jamal, showing that hes both thinking of his father and that hes ready for anything. With this is mind we decided to have him in an Side ways on over the shoulder type pose showing that he has a bag full of perhaps school books or training equipment.

The background shows what Jamal is fighting for. In Rocky it was himself, his country and his Village but in Jamal's case it was his fathers death so we had a Grave in the background aswell as a boxing ring to sell our story to the audience without giving too much away.

The title was made in a broken style font to show how Jamal's heart is still broken after the tragic detah of his father yet its not broken to an extent where it is not useful. Jamal must mend it himself, gather up his courage and go for it.

The famous one line quote was found online and gave our character more depth. "I have had to fight like hell and fighting like hell has made me what i am today" This self explantory quote shows how the death of his father and his training is creating who his character is and it is controlling him in a way. His past is creating his future and moulding his personality.

Just like other movie posters we decided to have the names of Directors and Producers squashed under the Main Title with Production Logo's underneath to complete it and give it a full Proeffesional look.

I am happy with the Poster we created and i think it both attracts our audience and gives away some of of story without giving to much away. This grips the heart and attention of our viewer to make them want to watch out film and find out what happens when Jamal decides to do what he feels he must.

EVALUATION - Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this Product?

These are some of the many skills I learnt to do on the Macs:

EVALUATION - Question 7

Looking back at your Preliminary Task, What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Editing Practice - Helping Another Group (Music Video)

Jesse, Joseph and Josh from my Media class approached me and asked if i could record and edit a music video for them which would tie in with their final piece.

I agreed to help them and we began meeting me to discuss ideas and plans for shot locations.

Once we had a plan we met up and travelled to different locations in Oxford such as Car parks, River bays and Bridges.

I recorded them using my camera from different angles before uploading on the footage onto my mac to start the editing process.

When it came to editing, I first matched all the music with their lips to make sure they matched before adding transitions, quick scene changes and other little effects.

Finally I corrected the colours and audio before releasing it to them as a Music Video:

Broken Bonds - I Thought we were Brothers

Backing Tune - Contacting the Owner

For our final piece we wanted to use this as a backing tune and therefore contacted the owner of the song and asked for permission to use it. We waited for a reply but wanted to play it safe and so decided to use a different non copyrighted song.

Question 5) Film Poster Planning

My Mac Skills

Before I started Media studies I had never used a mac before so i didn't even know how to turn one on. I had always used standard Windows Pc's and used Windows Movie Maker for videos.

Now I have learnt a lot of new skills on the mac from basic cutting and cropping to editing clips using match on action. I never even knew so many colour adjustments could be done to enhance the overall look of the clip. 

As the lessons continue I am still learning more and more. I have only just recently learnt how to put a 'picture on picture' and learnt how to make the advanced options come up on the mac.

Theres still so much to explore and this is just the beginning..

(Planning) How we attract our audience

We have chose to attract our audience through the idea of a Movie Poster.

Movie Posters have been around for years to advertise films and theatre performances.

We have chosen this Rocky Poster as an example for our movie poster as it....

"A movie poster is a poster used to advertise a film. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. They normally contain an image with text. Today's posters often feature photographs of the main actors. Prior to the 1990s, illustrations instead of photos were far more common. The text on movie posters usually contains the film title in large lettering and often the names of the main actors. It may also include a tag line, the name of the director, names of characters, the release date, etc."

Kung Fu Panda 9 Screen shot

More Shot Location pictures

Isis/Iffley running track

When it came to recording Jamaal jogging (as part of his training) we wanted to make sure it was clear to see that he was running and so decided to record on a running track.
For this we had to go to iffley running track in our own time and ask the manager for permission to record on the track for an hour. After we had explained it was for a media project the manager gave us permission to use it from 9-10am when it was free. We wasted no time and had santos run from many different angles on the track. We used high shots, low shots, wide shots and close ups.

Main Task Shoot Itinerary

Day 6: Thursday 9th Feb

Objective: Shoot a running scene for Dear Dad

Equipment: 1x Tripod, Canin 550 D

Personel: Anhar and Santos

MEDIA BLOG UPDATE

Just a quick video about our progress on our media work

Our Storyboard

This is our basic storyboard we created using still images.

Shot Location

We have been visiting man gyms asking if it was possible to record in them including:
Temple Cowley
David Lloyds
St Gregs
Brookes
and the main gym with all the boxing equipment: Feel Fit Gym /OMMA Gym

As part of our piece we wanted it to end with the main character walking out of the gym, entering a car and driving into the distance so we decided to use Temple Cowley gym as it had a long drive way we could use which led onto a road. However they would not allow us to record inside the gym so we had to seek permission from another gym. The above photos of the equipment were all taken at St Gregs gym which isn 't used a lot and is empty most of the time at certain times so we had permission to record using their equipment.
Finally the boxing equipment we wanted to use is all at OMMA Gym in Cowley Centre but we are still waiting for a response from the manager to see if it is okay to record in their Fighting Cage, Boxing Ring and with their Boxing Bags

Rocky 3 Training Scene

In This video there are a lot of shots we could use and re-create.

This Video inspires us as it shows rocky becoming a fighter to a boxer with the help of the ex-rival Apollo Creed. The different training exercises from the different angles show us both some of the things we need to include but  also the different angles we can explore to make the training much more interesting and powerful.

ECU Extreme Close Up

In Film making, Television and photography Extreme close ups are used to tightly frame a person or an object.

Close ups show the most detail with showing much of the background which makes it good for making a main character stand out or showing the importance of a certain object.

Wikapedia Definition: "Extreme Close Up ("ECU" or "XCU"): The shot is so tight that only a detail of the subject, such as someone's eyes, can be seen."


Usually Extreme close ups are of the eye to show a characters emotions and show the power of that person (for example if they are a main character)

Some of the Props we're using

We decided to use some old trainers as Jamaals training to sure how he really wanted to follow in his dads footsteps and so wore his dads olod boxing shoes.

 For the skipping scene we needed a skipping rope that was good for speed skipping that normal boxers would use.

As Santos does some martial arts out of school he had 'wraps' at home which boxers would use to support their wrist and fingers when it came to combat.

Skipping Practice for the Final Piece

Main Task Shoot Itinerary

Day 1: Thursday 2nd February

Objective: Look for potential shots for training for Dear Dad

Equipment: Canon 550d

Personel: Anhar, Santos and Arjan

Our Final Idea

     
This is a brief presentation of our final idea.

Our story is about a 16 year old boy named 'Jamaal' who is looking to avenge his father in the boxing ring. Jamaal was a straight A* Student but then it happened. One evening he decided to stay home and watch his fathers big fight against Dante on the Television but little did he know that was the last time he was ever going to see him. It took Jamaal 2 years to build up the courage and make the decision that he too wanted to take up the sport to avenge his father in the ring.

Spiderman 2 Opening Title Analysis

Spiderman 2 Opening used more animation than reality and showed it in a Comic book style. This gave to the effect that it was a fiction film and that it was based on comic book heroes rather than a real life hero. During the titles the main title came in 4 Titles later with the last title being "Directed by Sam Raimi" 

Juno Opening Title Analysis

We watched a film called 'Juno' and made a timeline of the Opening scene and what happens at certain times. We discovered that the title of the film doesn't come at the end of all the titles and that in fact it comes usually within the first 10 titles with the final title saying 'Directed by'. We looked at how the opening scene used both reality and animation to create Juno walking and what time each of the titles came up and what they said. We also learnt that as the titles went on it went on to be more important people.

Video 7

Ideas for Running


In this video it shows Forest Gump running across America in different angles and across different settings. This gave us ideas about the places we could have Forest Gump running taking in mind the scenery in the background, where to focus on with the camera and the different wide shots we could have.
Its also shows us how we can mix different scenes with the running as theres bit of dialogue throughout the whole clip and it keeps changing back and fourth to him running.
Another way this video helped us is through the technique of running. Sometimes when recording running it can look too 'faked' or 'forced' and doesnt look right so we needed to get the jogging technique right to make sure it looked as if he Jamaal really is training to the best of his ability.
We also liked the narrative over the action which helped explain the story while watching the action.