Group: Evaluation Navigation

Here is a categorised list of our individual evaluation posts which you can easily navigate through to see each candidates work.

James Irwin
JI : Evaluation 1
JI: Evaluation 2
JI: Evaluation 3
JI: Evaluation 6

Luca Forino

LF: Evaluation 1
LF: Evaluation 2
LF: Evaluation 3
LF: Evaluation 6

Group

Evaluation 4 & 5
Evaluation 7

Final Film Opening & Preliminary Task

Here is a look at our final edit of our film opening. We've put a lot of hard work and detail into the production of this opening, and overall we are very pleased with the final outcome.




We have also added our preliminary task for you to view aswell to see the comparison between the two, and the progress we have made through our production process.

Question 7: Production Process (Group)

Here is an interview with Luca on the process we went through during the production of our film opening from the beginning, addressing the issues we experienced, and the successful aspects of our production.

Question 4 & 5: Audience (Group)

On Tuesday 2nd May we carried out some audience research by having a premiere of all our film openings. Afterwards we got some feedback from the audience from interviews. Here's a look at some of our results:



Here is a presentation of our findings from our interviews. We have chosen to present these through the website Slide Rocket which is a multi media website which allows use to present your work with creative effects.
While viewing the slides please click on the actual slides rather than the arrows to see all the effects.

LF:Evaluattion 6

I have found the blog an extremely good way of working collaboratively to feed of each others ideas through our work. We decided that we would comment and use each others ideas in our work to put our own personal touch on the opening. For instance after technically deconstructing numerous film openings we came together and discussed the particular shots we liked and made sure we used them in our opening as we felt they could gain us the top marks. Furthermore it also gave us the opportunity to constructively criticize other members of our groups work and try to improve the standard of work the group produced.

Filming

• From the very beginning of our project we agreed to stick to the boxing film theme as we believed we had a great location to film in, however we still carried out a location recce to the boxing gym.

here is a picture of the boxing gym

What we gained from the recce

• a basic picture of what our final product would look like.
• we took numerous still images in black and white to help us to storyboard our final piece.
• One of the main things we gathered from carrying out the recce was the dilemma of the mirrors. However we overcome these problems by using them to out advantage as seen in the funeral scene and the changing room scene.
• Carried out a risk assessment on the boxing gym to ensure it was safe to film in.
• Trailed specific shots such as POV and shooting through the ropes.

• The equipment we decided to use for our opening was a 1080p HD digital camcorder and a tripod which allowed us to gain smooth panning shots in the running scene.

•  However we also used a lot of handy cam shots especially when filming the POV shot and the pads scene during the montage training. James showed good filming ability to allow the audience to feel engaged in the action. We decided that I was going to be the main character in the film because I have completed some boxing training before, however we wanted to film more footage than we were eventually going to use. We wanted to avoid the risk of not having enough footage however this worked to our advantage because we could pick the best shots and unusual angles to use in our final opening.

Editing

• I found editing one of the most enjoyable parts of making the opening as you begin to see all your work coming together. We used software called Premier to edit our footage and after a couple of lessons learning how to use all the certain techniques we learned how to use the programme effectively. After careful storyboarding our opening it allowed us to have basic picture of what our footage would look like when it came together however we did change the story board around slightly when we put it all together.

• Firstly we put all of our footage on the time line in the order we wanted it to be in the started to reduce the length of all the shots we had because a large number of them were far too long. After reducing the length of the footage to create the montage effect we had to cut and manoeuvre the parts of footage and make sure the clips flowed in time with the voiceover. 

• The final pieces of editing were the finer tuned aspects of making the film such as allowing the gold to filter in through the title at the end of the film. I believe this is a really effective touch we created. 

• Furthermore we also used a white wash when the main protagonist walked though the door of the changing room.

• One of the best effects I fell we used was the time stretch tool of the main protagonist in the changing room; I feel it really slowed the action down and allowed the audience to concentrate on the voiceover. This was closely followed by the POV shot of the fight scene; we added a blurry effect simulating what it is like having a bout. We gained inspiration to use this effect in the film Cinderella man.

Exporting

• We exported the footage through Adobe premier elements, then uploaded the footage to YouTube, from YouTube we were able to embed the clip and put it on the blog.

Production Process

• We believe that the way we produced our film is similar to that of a real film production however on a much less glamorous scale. We believe we put more than enough research to understand the conventions of films in our genre therefore we could follow in the footsteps of the iconic films such as Rocky to create a fantastic film opening. 
• We carried out a substantial amount of audience research in order to connect with a certain audience and to understand what they are looking for. We also had to edit our footage, a technique in which all film producers need to use.
• The soundtrack we used throughout our production was a copyright free piece of music ‘upilifting strings’ that we were given by our school. We also searched deeply on the website http://www.freesound.org/ however we did not find anything we liked.

• However there are obviously aspects of our film production that are not quite the same as major Hollywood films similar to our. For instance the location, equipment, and major actors were not available for us to use. However it was the first time we ever made a film opening and I feel we were successful.  

LF: Evaluation 3

Here is my presentation for evaluation 3 'what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?'

LF: Evaluation 2

Social groups represented

Our film opening does not necessarily relate to a huge amount of different social groups, however many social groups can relate to the storyline. The main social group represented would be young white males because the storyline follows a protagonist who fits into these categories.

 However due to the voice over the audience may interpret the main protagonist as a character coming from a working class background as there is a hint of a cockney accent in the voice over. Furthermore boxing is often associated with a working class individual therefore working class males are also represented. The narrative also includes other marganalised characters such as the mother and other boxers in the amateur scene however they do not appear in the opening.

The main social groups that are not represented throughout are opening is females, because boxing films often follow one character very closely we felt it wouldn’t have been necessary to include another character within the opening therefore only a few social groups have been represented.

 Furthermore no Black people feature within the opening once again because we did not feel the need to include any other characters and we wanted the relationship between the audience and the main protagonist to be a strong personal bond.

Representation

Overall throughout our narrative the protagonist is represented positively as it shows him striving through a tough period in his live however it re enforces that if you work hard enough for something anything is possible. Offer there is a stereotype for working class young men that they turn to crime and have no goals in there life, however I feel our narrative makes it clear how he has chosen boxing as a path he believes will benefit him in life. However underneath all the tough boxing scenes there is also the funeral scene where the audience can interpret his softer side and realize that even the hardest of individuals suffer as a result of misfortune in a household.

Our main character sticks to traditional gender roles throughout the narrative. He portrays himself as a strong masculine hard man, a stereotype that a lot of people associate with the sport of boxing. Furthermore the trainer that appears in the training scene and in the boxing montage also expressed the same charisma throughout the narrative.

Both characters non verbal language stick to stereo typical male characteristics. The calm straight forward no nonsense attitude is similar to the characters in other films of the genre such as Jake Lamotta in ‘Raging Bull’ and Rocky Balboa in the film Rocky.

How the representation is constructed.

Non-verbal language is vital throughout our narrative because the main protagonist does not produce any dialogue at all. In the opening changing room seen there is a shot of the main character in the mirror he seems focused and relatively calm suggesting he knows what he needs to do, as though its just another bout it doesn’t really seem to have an effect on him. This impression he creates of being a hard man is often associated with men, not showing any emotion to stand up to their fears and show no weakness. The next action shot is the fighter putting on his gloves with his trainer, this is the first chance the audience can see the close relationship between fighter and trainer and due to the clothing there appearance evokes aggression as the protagonist has his hood up an image often associated with crime and violence.

The POV shot facing the protagonist represents the main character through the use of sound. This is the only time the classical music cuts out throughout the opening creating a dramatic feel. The heartbeat shows how the protagonist is in the zone and one he steps into the ring he has tunnel vision as it is only him and his opponent the ring. He is also represented as a very talented boxer as he knocks his opponent down as he dances around the ring almost effortlessly.

here you can see the parallels between Cinderella Man and our final piece.

Macro issues

I feel as though our film opening reinforces macro ideologies in the western world. I feel as though we could not have really challenged typical boxing films successfully in the opening of a film. If we were going to challenge typical ideologies for instance using a woman (as seen in million dollar baby) or a homosexual man for instance, we would have needed more time to create a stable relationship with the audience to try and establish a strong narrative. Therefore we felt we needed to follow the typical conventions of the genre. Ideologies such as a strong working class white male we felt would be a lot easier for the audience to relate to and to build a strong narrative around such a character.

• However you could argue it goes against the typical ideology of working class individuals that they often do not strive for greatness in there life and are typically under achievers, as the protagonist does come from such a background however will eventually become extremely successful in what he does.

• Finally our film does re enforce the viewpoint that boxing is a male dominated sport as there are no women during our opening. You could draw parallels between this and the society we live in that there is a clear male dominance in society as males are seen as the stronger more successful gender.