Audience theory

Audience Theory- written by Alex

Feedback lesson- presentation of ideas

Change of plan- old ideas

Class presentation- feedback lesson

On Tuesday morning, each group had to present their ideas to the class. We used a PowerPoint that we put together one lunchtime and also linked some of Adam's videos to it to help get our initial idea across.


We had a chronological order in which we presented our ideas. We began with Scott who discussed:

-The genre of the film.
-The Scripting process: the drafting process, the packages that can be used. e.g. Celtx and what ideas we came up with.
- How we reflected on the Audience Research about the association of goths with witches and also how they were cast as outcasts.
- And he also handed out scripts (the first draft of the unused script) to the other members of the class to give them an idea of a structured script.

Next was me and Alex and we discussed the following points:

- The discussion about possible names for our team. (We are now called '4 idiots with a camera')
- Possible locations (Forests, deserted buildings, creepy houses etc.)
-And the costume ideas and the Moodboard's we created.

Then we handed over to Adam who explained all of the technical ideas we have such as:
-The discussion of camera shots and angles which he linked with location for the achievability.
-He showed some of his past videos that he had filmed with effects such as time lapse, fish eye and GoPro.
- And he then talked about how the different video examples may influence/ inspire the camera angles we were going to use.

After we finished our presentation we were asked several questions by the class. These were regarding our initial ideas and our final thoughts. Here are the questions they asked and our responses:

Q"Are the locations you've discussed the final set locations?"

A "At this moment in time, we haven't made no final decisions regarding our locations as now we can explore more in depth the achievability of locations near the school/us."

Q "Have you designed a logo for your production team yet?"

A "At this moment in time, we've no logo for our production team, this being due to the fact that we've decided upon the name '4 Idiots With A Camera' yesterday (Monday 9th December 2013) night. But that will be another area we can focus upon."

Adam and Mr Welch recorded our presentation which we can use as a part of our audience research.

CHANGE OF GROUP NAME

On Thursday, we all decided that we would call our group 'Kalasangan'. At the time, we thought this name really suited its purpose, but over the weekend we all had a change of heart and decided that it no longer fit the bill. On Monday we all decided on '4 idiots with a camera' which suits us perfectly as that is literally what we are. 

Critical Media Theorists

Gurevitch and Roberts- Gurevitch and Roberts believed that mass communication is mediated through a specific set of devices which stand between the receivers and the senders. The word mediation is the process used for the representation of events through the media.

Dennis McQuail- Dennis McQuail has a range of alternative views of society. Some of them are:

The Mass Society Theory- This is where the most powerful institutions and companies support each other and the population is therefore offered entertainment by the media to divert them from their lower position.

The Political-Economic Theory- The political-economic theory stresses that material/valuable information that goes around in society is critically valued according to its possible profitability. Also, the uneven distribution of sources prevents the critical voices from being proclaimed. The overall point of this theory is to show that the media's main role is to produce and deliver their audiences as valuable sources of profitability.

Social-Cultural Theory- The social-cultural theory tries to understand how small groups of society make use of the mass culture given by the media and how the mass culture draws in younger people and many ethnic minorities into society.

Tzvetvan Todorov- Todorov strongly argued that all narratives begin with a state of equilibrium where the story begins with calmness and harmony between all of the characters. Then during the middle of the story there is some form of disruption which causes all forms of chaos and trouble. However at the end of the narrative, a new equilibrium is reached as every issue is resolved and the harmonic balance between the characters and their environment is restored.

Kalasangan logo

After deciding our team name, we made a start on possible ideas for our logo. Here are a few basic ideas that we came up with.

As our thriller is a psychological/supernatural thriller, we thought that we could incorporate a forest (where we would be filming) which is also the name of our production company (Kalasangan). Also the word cerubia which is written on the board means 'land of monsters' so we thought we would have some sort of beast/creature in our logo. 

GROUP NAME

During today's lesson myself, Alex, Adam and Scott decided that it was about time we got ourself a team name. To begin with we researched names to do with our thriller but in different languages to give it an edge. To start with we had 15 possible names and then we narrowed it down to 7. After another discussion deciding which would be best, we then got down to the final 3. After much deliberation, we decided on... KALASANGAN! Which is Filipino for 'forest'. We felt this was a necessary name as our thriller film is based in a forest.

 

 

Age Ratings- BBFC ratings

U- The U age rating stands for Universal which means that the film should be suitable for audiences of the ages of four and up. The BBFC give children's films and TV programmes such as 'Teletubbies' and 'In the night garden' a U rating even though it is impossible to predict what can upset children of a young age. Films/TV programmes/Videos with the age rating of a U should not contain any traces of violence, sex, drugs, nudity, horror, or bad behaviour in general.

 PG- PG stands for parental guidance which means that the product is suitable for a general audience but some sections may be unsuitable for a younger viewing audience. It is entirely the parents decision in whether they should allow their child to view certain films as some scenes can be classed as upsetting. PG films may contain some mild language. Sexual references are allowed if they are referred to in a way in which the child does not understand. However if the child is able to understand the reference, the product may be bumped up to the next age category. There may also be brief references to homosexual relationships but these are treated the same as heterosexual references. Some types of behaviour are not acceptable in a PG rating such as children playing with electricity as it can create an impression on the child viewers and they may copy the child in the films actions. There should be no direct references to drugs in a PG film unless there is a clear message to put across such as 'stay away from drugs'.

12/12A- The 12 rating is purely for use on videos, DVD's and Blu-Rays whereas the 12A rating is used in cinemas only.12A means that anyone over the age of 12 can go and see the film unaccompanied. The 'A' in 12A stands for accompanied and advisory so that anyone under the age of 12 has to go and see the film with an adult as there may be unsuitable scenes. 12A's contain a fair amount of material that parents may find unsuitable for their child so it is entirely the parents choice if they wish to allow their child to see the film. If a 12A film has a dark, unsettling tone, it may be pushed up to a 15. However, if the film has a positive, upbeat message, this can stop it from being rated as a 15. Sex may be briefly described/portrayed and the verbal sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for the audience. Moderate violence is allowed but weapons and violence should not at all be glamorised as the children may copy. Dangerous behaviour such as suicide and self-harming may be present in some 12/12A films but the film makers should not try and make these issues seem pain free or good in any way. There may also be some references to drug use but these will not be in great detail.

15- The 15 age rating means that no-one under the age of 15 is able to go and see the film at the cinema and they are not allowed to go and rent/buy films with a 15 rating. The 15 age rating is a lot stronger than the 12/12A rating because they can include things such as: strong violence, strong language, strong verbal references to sex, several portrayals of sexual activity, brief scenes that include sexual activity, discrimination and drug taking and misuse. Even though there is strong language used, aggressive language will not be allowed and the film will be put into the higher age rating. There may be discriminatory, homophobic and racist language used but will most likely have been used as an exploration of the main themes. Sexual activity can be portrayed at a 15 but there cant be any strong or graphic detail included. Strong or crude references will most likely not be acceptable. Sadistic or graphic violence is not permitted for a 15 and the use of drug taking is allowed but must not in any way promote or encourage drug use.

18- The 18 age rating is targeted specifically at adults. No-one under the age of 18 is able to go and see/rent a film with a rating of 18 as the film is not suitable for children and may contain nudity, sexual activity, strong language, strong violence, frequent drug use, strong horror/gore, real sex, sexual violence (e.g. rape) and discriminatory language and behaviour. There is no limit on the amount of strong language and violence used in a film rated 18 and there may also be strong homophobic and racist language used. There can be very graphic and detailed portrayals of sex in 18's and there are no constraints on the amount of nudity used.

R18- The R18 rating is a special and legally restricted category which contains explicit videos and portrayals of consented sex and strong fetish material. R18 films may only be shown in specific cinemas that are licensed to do so or are sold in sex shops.

BBFC's classification process- research

 

This is the research I conducted about the BBFC's classification process

 

Audience Research-survey

As a part of our audience research, we conducted a survey using the members of our class. the questions we asked were:
"do you associate Goth's with witchcraft?"
8 out of the 10 people we asked answered yes.
"do you think that Goth's would have been outcast and ridiculed purely for being a Goth 30 years ago?"
Again, 8 out of the 10 people we asked answered yes.
By conducting a survey, we were able to gain a better idea about what sort of character the outcast can be.

OUR NEW PLAN!!!

Due to much deliberation, my group came to the conclusion that our initial plan was fairly unrealistic and didn't really fit the genre we wanted out thriller to be based around. So as a group, we sat down and discussed new ideas for our thriller and we came up with the idea of a psychological/supernatural thriller. The basic plan is a girl who is walking through a forest, who keeps having flashbacks to her school days where she was classed as an outcast.

Stereotypes

So, we have began our planning for our main task which is a thriller. We have had several planning sessions with our groups to decide exactly what we are going to do. my group consists of Scott Cartwright, Adam Lievesley, Alexandra Reddish and myself. I also worked with Scott and Adam for the preliminary task and I decided to work with them again for the main task because we all worked well as a team and we all have our own individual strengths that are useful whilst in the production and filming process. Our new addition Alex is fairly skilled with a camera and is good in the production process. So all together, we should be able to produce a good thriller. In our planning sessions we have split ourselves up so everyone is focusing one thing. Scott has been involved in writing the scripts, Adam has been testing out camera angles and shots that we can include and myself and Alex have been making moodboards, looking at costume ideas and have been looking for possible locations we can use.

This is the final product of our preliminary task which was to produce a video that included a person walking through a door, into a room and then sit down on a chair. It took Scott Cartwright, Adam Lievesley and myself about 2 hours to complete the filming. Scott edited the video which took him approximately 4 hours to complete as he had to gather the music together and mix it together. The software used was the Sony Creative Software package, Sony Vegas Pro 12. Overall, the whole process of making the video took place over a 2 week period. Below is the link to our finished product, hope you enjoy!


The Interview- AS Media Studies Preliminary Task on youtube

This is the story board for our preliminary task which is to film a person walking through a door and sitting down on a chair. Me, Scott and Adam had a meet up in the lesson to discuss exactly how we were going to film and produce the overall task. We decided what camera angles we were going to use and also which locations to use.

These are several of my test shots that me and my group took before we began our preliminary task. These shots include long shots, focus pulls, leading lines and close ups. We took these in our 'getting to know the camera' lesson and to try and work on different techniques with the camera. In this lesson we also got into our groups that we would be working in for the preliminary task. My group consisted of Scott Cartwright, Adam Lievesley and myself.