My project is an opening sequence to a film, targeted at the audience of 12-30 year olds. I worked with Lyndsay Alderson, Ashley Brierley and Saad-Ali Khan. For the project, I did a lot of the camera work and also contributed greatly towards the editing process.

As the sequence is one of a sports genre, we used certain conventions to portray this. One obvious convention being Ashley (the main character) training for a football trial which he is aiming to get through. We made this obvious by using shots such as him kicking the ball make the genre obvious. Also, the music used is upbeat and young which is aimed at the target audience. If slow, scary music was to be used, it would not fit with the sequence as the film is fast paced and exciting. The fact that the sequence is so fast paced means the music is a vital element in the project as this helps to set the correct mood when an audience is watching the film. Our group believed the ideas we had for the sequence would be successful because sport is popular within the 12-30 year old age range and this film could maybe inspire them. We also decided to use shots of him running and doing press ups as this would break up the sequence, and also shows the amount of hard work would need to be done in order for him to reach his goal.

I believe the choices we made, such as making the sequence fast paced and using upbeat music worked well. I believe this because after creating a questionnaire for people in the class, they knew the genre straight away, and said the reason for this is because of the genre conventions used. The pace is apparently very accurate and correct, and the music goes well with the sequence according to the feedback as 100% of the audience said this. As the film is aimed at younger teenagers, I thought it would be good to use a sixteen year old to act out the role of the main character. This would automatically interest the target audience more than it would if we were to use a man the age of thirty. Ashley is wearing a typical football training kit, and also general street wear whilst running and exercising. This adheres to the stereotype of a ‘football crazy’ boy. Also, as he is the main role in the sequence, this may lead to inspire young football fans to chase after their dreams. From the feedback we have received, it is obvious who he is and what he is aiming for.

The film I have helped to produce is most likely be distributed by a British production company, as football is an extremely popular sport in the UK. An example of a good production company would be Film38 Ltd, as they are known for being hardworking and filming every genre you may wish for! From horror to sci-fi, even to drama and sport! I believe they would consider backing our product because sport is a big issue in the UK and young teenagers would love more films they can associate themselves with. As said above, our film is targeted at young teenage boys. The reason for this is because these fit into the stereotype of young, British teenagers. As sport has a big impact on mainly boys of this age, this audience would pay to watch the film at the cinema and they will also pay to buy the DVD.

For the film sequence we set up the Equilibrium by the main character (Ash) training for football, as this is what the film is about, therefore establishing the genre. As the music is fast paced and upbeat, this helps to set up the Equilibrium also. The fact that Ash is constantly racing against time to get through the trial is the conflict, which is set up in our opening sequence. To try and create a sense of time, I thought trying to represent Ash training for the trial over a number of different seasons would be effective. To make this work, we filmed in many different weathers, such as snow and rain, to show the determination, in all weathers. The ideologies the sequence suggests are the typical, young boy stereotype. Young British boys are known to be football fanatic and this film is about a boy crazy about football chasing his dream. This may then influence teenagers who have the same dream. As the film opening is fast paced, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to use any transitions as this would take away the pace. We were trying to promote positive ideologies about teens, so to do this we tried to show them as up-beat and determined. This is different to the current media representations as in the media they are portrayed as drug addicts who are a huge threat to society. Another important element of media language I made sure to be correct was the clip length. Every shot had to be of the same length (2 seconds) to ensure the pace is kept and builds adrenalin.

To help the group to construct our product, I used the internet to research certain elements of the genre of film we used. For example, I used ‘YouTube’ to search for films such as ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ to look at the pace, the mise en scene, costumes etc. I also used certain websites to research audiences for certain genres. Before this project, I didn’t have any skills on the movie editor. I now know how to use complex effects, how to add transitions and how to cut clips. Also, I have learned how to hold a camera properly and how to make sure it Is straight. I found a problem when trying to find any suitable transitions for our project. As the sequence is fast, there weren’t any transitions that seemed to fit properly. When we put all our filming on for the first time, we realized we needed many more shots of Ash just simply kicking the ball or quick shots of him running. Our shots were too slow, so this took a long time to be redone.

Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel I have learned many more skills using a camera and also the editing software. For example, my composition of shots improved quite a lot and I also made sure I held the camera correctly and steadily. I also learned how to use the editing software, for example cutting shots at playheads and also repeating the shots throughout the sequence, which I could not do successfully before.

Overall, I think the project turned out better than expected. At first, I didn’t have much confidence in it as a sport genre only seems to have a restricted audience and it is also extremely challenging to keep up the fast pace of the film. However, we managed to use the software correctly and ensure all the shots were the same length in order to keep up the pace and also used specific genre conventions, such as footballs, weights and training kits. I believe all our skills have improved greatly and also feel the group worked well together.

BECKIE LIVESEY