Alexander Maximillian Leiva. 'Narcissist'. 2180

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Saturday, 24 April 2010

How did you attract, address your audience ?

We attracted our audience in a variety of different ways. Firstly, we created a facebook fan page 'Narcissist'. This would enable us to have a group of followers who could follow the progress of the film and updates from the director. We would also make a Myspace page really targeting the social networking audience. We would include exclusive interviews as well as trailers to entice our target audience to be more involved and more excited to see the film in the box office.

We adressed this audience using the stills sequence to show the picture publishing the social networkers do everday. This idea puts the audience into the shoes of the charachters and brings out more emotional connections towards them.

I also created a 'Are you a Narcissist quiz' which gives the audience a more interactive relationship with the film. If we released the film we would reiterate this idea of interactiveness with club promotions and online promotions of the film as well. Really targeting our audience of extroverted 17-25 year olds. Giving out T-shirts and advertisements of the film's soundtrack to purchase on iTunes.

Thursday, 22 April 2010

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in your progression from that to your final project.


To start in our preliminary project we made a few mistakes both in the editing with the 3 jump shot and in the acting department, one of my colleagues missed out a line. Our finished two minute project was less error prone as we worked hard to perfect it so there were no mistakes. To help us achieve this goal we used a tripod to make our shots less jittery and more professional. We used my storyboard which was particularly important in our final project as we had more direction and planning to make our film as good as we possibly could.



In our final project I learnt how to film better using a variety of different shots rather than using the same monotonous close up shot and shot reverse shot. We also used quicker cuts to add pace to our piece along with more characters and a variety of different locations to make the mis-en-scene more interesting. This helped us make our film a slightly more un-conventional romantic comedy. My idea was to make our film im pressionistic rather than realistic. We used less dialogue and cut our film into four different sections ; Getting ready, still shots,tube title sequence and goodbye scenes. This gave our film a better sense of direction and destination.




These very different sections reiterated our fast paced feel along with our quick cuts particularly our tube sequence. To help us achieve this when we were editing we used different types of transitions and played around with the placement of our titles which we didn't do at all in our preliminary task. However the most instrumental change in our final project compared to our preliminary task was the music which I added. This gives the film an entirely different feel and more of a finished project. I used a 'House' genre of music and the 'drops' are timed perfectly and really add to our film to make it seem a lot more thought out than our preliminary task.

Tuesday, 23 March 2010

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

In constructing this product I've learnt a lot of tricks of he trade about the technology I've embarked upon. As the storyboard,picked by class vote, was created by me I was the designated camera man and director from the commence of constructing this piece.

It began with the use of the camera, handheld and on a tripod whilst we filmed the opening scenes as I had never filmed anything prior to this. . Never the less I quickly learnt how to pan and tilt effectively.The right angle was hardest to obtain, along with the all important matching mis-en-scene. Zooming in or out whilst panning or tilting was the hardest to learn. I also learnt how to put the colouring on manual on the camera to give the final product more continuity with the same coloured backgrounds despite filming on different days.
Despite this challenge I overcame with the camera work the most difficult skill I learnt was the ins and outs of the editing software. On Both iMovie and iDvd. I spent all of my time after filming having difficulties learnign how to cut different shots for either continuity or to speed up the pace. On iMovie I also learnt to put the pieces together,adding transitions and titling. However on two different occasions I struggled with the software. Firstly with mt stills which I learnt how to make on iDvd yet I still struggled to put it into iMovie format and blend in with the rest f the piece. Eventually I learnt how to overcome this struggle, I felt I really accomplished something despite not bein to get the effect of my original idea. I made a fast pace collage conveying an Urban Nightlife.


My second stubling block was trying to get my tube sequence, the letters. to rearange to make the Titles. Despite this obstacle, again I altered my original idea from my storyboard to adapt to this by making the tube sequence less about the title sequence and more for the fast pace effect of the piece. So for my titling I did it through the entire piece rather than congesting the tube sequence with the tube.
The last technology which I am still working on is the creation of the music. I am trying to constrcuct a piece similiar to 'Ooh Wee' by Mark Ronson or 'Opposite of Adults' by Chiddy Bang ft.MGMT. Focusing more on the instrumentals of these pieces rather than the lyrics. However this is still a work in process.

Who would be the audience for your product ?


The product which I created is a fast paced romantic comedy,aimed for both boys and girls aged 17-25. The target audience is clearly depicted in the film introduction itself as the main characters are 18-19, along with the extras who are also beetween 18-21. My prodcut has a very urban feel to it with the quick shots and cuts, along with the mis-en-scene of the piece which is set in the city.

My Product reaches out to this particular age group not only due to the cast but due to the self-consscious felo of looking good throughout 'Narcissist'. My product speaks to this with the getting ready shots used at the beginning adjacent to the club shots. However the stills are the most important as it speaks to this age of 17-25 as they are the most likely to embark upon social networking such as :


In Which many of our target audience would upload photos of their own. I wanted my product to relate to as many 17-25 year olds as possible and therefore I tried to use places in which people from all classes could relate to, such as the tube and standard clubs which people where dressed in diverse types of apparel. This helped us connect with a more 'Fabric' orientated audience rather than a strictly Mayfair club audience. It's amazing how successful targeting a certain age group is, rather than a class,gender, or sexuality can be as we tried to emulate a 'Skins' effect to our piece.




However despite my attempt for diversity I did want our romantic comedy to bear a lot of sexual tension. The stills sequence in particular illustrates the main characters coupling off and particularly flirtatious. I would certify this film 15 as it would have included frequent use of strong language and sexual content. This romantic comedy is set for a different audience then most American romantic comedies giving it more freedom, playing less on class and ethnicity and focusing on peer group status.

Monday, 22 March 2010

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


If I were to make and Distribute my media product 'Narcisisst' I would first gain funding from the UK film Council to finish off the film and make it more prestigious. After I had accomplished this I would distribute my prduct through a branch of Working Title called WII which specialises in low budget British productions. Working Title is also a perfect distributor as it is the only UK film maker which has a link with a U.S distributor giving my media product a infinite potential to do well Globaly as well as Nationally.
'Narcissist' although based in London appeals to millions of web users and social networkers across the Western world. It plays off the engrained insecurities within todays culture of 'masculinity'. However despite it's unconventional approach it a new type of product which could be extremely popular by the mass numbers of film lovers.

How does your media product represent particular social groups.

My media product represents a social group which I too am involved in.


Our Media Product represents the 17-25 year old generation of facebook users and other social networkers, who capture every moment of their nightlife and publish it to show their many hundreds of friends, as demonstrated above. The eponymous tragic hero is the Narcisissist themselves, which i tried to reiterate by the voice over of the main character when the title is first delivered in the last quarter of the film.

We represented this through our stills sequence which can relate to our target audience. We tried to sell the idea to the 'lads' of tommorow who want to aspire to go out with good looking and girls one night and be finished with them in the morning on a consistent basis. We're trying to undermine the player image of Charlie Harper in 'Two and a Half Men' in a very tongue and cheek approach to still entice the social group we are conveying and then upset their expectations as they realise they are being undermined rather than glorifyed.



A perfect way to depict the type of Charachter we are exposing is Proffessor Green in this video ' I Need You Tonight'. This song is about a man who thinks he's a player yet it comes to an abrupt halt as he is beaten at his own game. Our idea coincides with this as the film progresses my idea was for the two main charachters who are glorified by their friends and their arrogant selves are given a reality check.


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

The first real media product we tried to use was the stills sequence. We based it off the idea of the introduction and title sequence of 'How I Met Your Mother'. In How I Met Your Mother they use CGI not only to obtain a flash like transition but also with the movement as it appears to be moving from shot to shot and introduces all of the main charachters.
We developed this idea by making our own type of collage but in different movements but with the same idea of having a collage and introducing the main charachters however we chose to save most of our titles for the tube sequence rather than using all of them over the stills as we felt it would lose it's introductory effect. We developed this to better suit a British audience rather than an American audience.

We challenged the real media idea of a romantic comedy by making it more distinct to London and more upbeat and 'narcissitic', our title conveys the idea of this lifestyle. It is different to a more conventional rom-com such as 'Hitch' as it is not based around love or long term commitment but callenging the vain, self centered young adults of today. This would also be more apparent in the ending as it doesn't end happily as do the traditional movies of this particular genre.