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

Being a teaser trailer, we had to closely use the conventions of a real trailer format seen in real life media products. Our piece fits into the conventional time frame for a teaser trailer at 68 seconds in length. Teaser trailers in general tend to use non-diegetic sound dominantly to help set the genre, we have conformed to this partially. We used a non-copyright rap/grime track which is very appropriate to highlighting the urban drama genre. In addition to this, using Final Cut Pro, we introduced our trailer using a classical string piece which subverts the idea of using sound fitting with the genre. This shows us developing, using and experimenting with the concept and convention of using non-diegetic sound against the trailer shots further than demonstrated in real media products. 

  It was effective in creating more of a contrast between the two sounds and therefore enhancing the tension being built.
 Our use of titles conforms to real media texts. After researching into the appropriate type of credits within trailers, we used credits to express information such as the release date, leading actors involved and relevant reviews. We created our credits using a font which we found after extensively searching on-line for templates, we made sure that we used this font consistently throughout as to conform to the conventions of real teaser trailers. They also conform to the typography of products within the urban drama genre, which is plain and blocked, this was successful in making the genre clear to the audience right from the outset.

Our trailer also conforms in terms of editing, the narrative is hinted at but not clearly revealed which is an important part of the trailer format. The disruption of the equilibrium is the most important element to be shown in a teaser trailer and remains a key convention of real life media products. This is reflected in the pace of editing we have created, which increases throughout the trailer to create the panicked and tense tone. We wanted the narrative to be very clear in terms of themes within it, but we were also inspired by trailers such as 'Under the skin' which keeps a large sense of mystery and tend to give a little less away than in other trailers, which is not something that you see in most urban drama trailers. This was our way of challenging and developing trailer features within our chosen genre. This is shown through us briefly introducing characters and not being consistent in showing these characters through our footage for example the low angle close up of a female character. 

 Our A2 trailer also conforms to the camera work of real media trailers by instating the setting through multiple establishing shots of the urban city of London, this is an important feature in trailers as it informs the audience of the general setting of the plot and gives key clues towards the genre. So after research into trailers of our chosen genre we decided to use establishing shots of London's Canary Wharf at the beginning of our trailer. 

It conformed very closely to the conventions of our genre by using a London based location, We used various greater London locations, which were concrete based to reinforce the idea of a concrete jungle and to be reminiscent of the poverty of council estates. After researching into the kinds of locations that were generally used in films like 'Fish Tank' and 'Ill Manors' we then scouted for settings and places that fitted this such as the concrete underpass in Greenwhich and the multi storey car park in Bexleyheath. 

                                     

In terms of conforming to real urban drama trailer texts, we have tightly conformed to the main conventions, this is demonstrated through our use of mise en scene, the London based setting is extremely appropriate to our urban genre. As well as this the costumes used consist of tracksuit garments and designer trainers, which fits well with real product customs. We found that more often than not urban drama material included characters which had worn designer tracksuit clothing. This also fits appropriately to real life stereotypes which are presented within the genre.

The mise en scene also indicates conformity, through excesses of empty alcohol bottles, rubbish, lighters and baggies distributed through one of the rooms to suggest some of the themes associated with urban drama such as alcoholism and drug use. These hard hitting issues are often explored as part of the social realist approach to the genre, so to us it was essential to express some elements of this in our trailer, we used this kind of mise en scene to do so.

We conformed and developed camera work in urban texts by using a combinations of both hand held documentary styled shots to reinforce the socially real aspects of the piece and make it seem more natural when for the audience for example in the point of view shot, running through the car park.

We also wanted to use more stable styled shots, to make the piece more diverse and to seem choppy so that it created a contrast and un-smooth feel to the flow of the trailer as a whole, to help mirror the disruption of the narrative equilibrium for example some of the shots showing artistic angles.

We challenged and developed the conventions of real media pieces through our research through exploring other kinds of texts aside from trailers. We looked outside of the teaser format at American TV drama for example we looked into the Wire, which is a crime drama often following drug trafficking related issues. We were inspired by the opening sequence of the shows first series, and took influence from this in our drug related shots by using flash zoom effects in our post production development. 

We also looked into actual urban drama films, to help find conventions more relative to the genre, this made sure that it was completely clear to the audience. We looked at films such as Kidulthood and were influenced by this to experiment with the concept of social realism, through using hand held documentary styled shots. British urban drama films also gave us insight into key atmospheric aspects such as the use of grime/rap tracks in non-diegetic sound and the kinds of tracksuit based costumes which would be appropriate to the genre.

Other research we engaged in was that of the working class youth stereotype. We did this by extensively looking through newspaper articles on British youth violent crime and the concept of ASBO culture and using the internet to search for related posts on the main features of such stereotype. This help us a lot when beginning to develop our main characters including the protagonist. Surprisingly, despite some of the research content it really helped us to sympathise with some of the kind of personae we started to establish. This also helped us to create initial costume ideas.

Theories
We thought it was important to compare our piece against film theories as a successful film related text should follow and develop appropriately in accordance to appropriate theories.

Todorov's genre theory claims that 'a new genre is always the transformation of one or several old genres'. Our A2 piece conforms to this as, being an urban drama piece, it takes elements from the gangster genre such as violent aspects shown though the point of view shot of our antagonist laying on the floor in a pool of blood reaching for a bat. The urban locations we have used are something which has been heavily influenced by gangster films. We also take aspects of the action and drama genre such as fast pace and the building of tension which is clear in our A2 teaser trailer in the documentary styled hand held shot running through a car park and the breaking of the fourth wall through direct address with the camera on multiple occasions.

Cameron's narrative theory explains how modular narratives 'articulate a sense of time as divisible and subject to manipulation'. Our piece partially conforms to this. Our piece fits into this with an anachronic modular narrative as we involve the concept of flashbacks and repetition. This can be seen indicated through the use of black and white filter over the shots we present as being from the past. This highlights elements of the plot. Our teaser trailer doesn't follow any of the other types of modular narrative meaning that it does not fully use the conventions of this theory.

It is evident that we have used various methods of challenging, developing and conforming to the conventions of urban drama and the teaser trailer format, Our feedback found that the genre of the piece was clear and easily identified by our target audience and that the convention which we used were successful in conveying this. [click here].

Audience feedback

We decided that the best way to retrieve feedback would be through other Media students, who knew what kind of features to look out for in determining the success of our teaser trailer. We came up with some simple questions to distribute amongst the year twelve students and students from other classes in our year. We asked these students to view the trailer once before completing the questionnaire.  We chose seven questions to find out which area's we excelled in and which area's were less impressive;
1) Were you able to easily identify the genre of the trailer?

2)Were there enough clues indicating the plot?

3)Was the typography effective?

4) Does the trailer sell the film? Would you like to see it?

5)What was the best feature?

6) other comments?

1)"Good use of shots, location, camera, characters and editing"
2)Really liked this trailer"
3)"Really interesting and unique"
4)"loved the smoke shots"
5)"tracking shots for typography were good"
6)"professional looking"
7)"Well done, especially the mise en scene"
8)"Mise en scene was very good...fitted the genre"
9)"Excellent mise en scene and music"
10)"Good costumes"
11)"Original"
12)"Was everything you would expect as an audience"
13)"Would have loved to watch actual film"
14)"Amazing"

7) What would have improved this piece?

1) N/A "Perfect"
2) N/A
3) N/A "Really good"
4) N/A
5) "If the story line was clearer"
6) " Mum receiving money was odd"
7) "More low key lighting"
8) "Sound could have been changed towards the end"
9)  N/A
10) "More clues about narrative"
11)  N/A
12) "Sound could have been more tense at certain points"
13) N/A
14) "If music ended clearly"

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

When creating a media product it is essential to consider the piece from the audiences view, making feedback a crucial part of the process. It tells us a lot about the audiences perspective on the piece. We gathered this information in various ways, using verbal feedback, youtube comments and a survey given to other media students in our school.  This gives us both an idea of the perspective of the general public and also from students who are aware of the kinds of features and conventions to look out for in successful media products. We discovered the worth of audience feedback in our AS coursework, when we used surveying to find out information such as what the title should be and to explore the most appealing plot elements, we used surveymonkey.com to engage with people over the internet.

We decided that we should involve the target audience (15+) from the outset of the drafting process, using a verbal focus group to ask about what they elements they enjoyed most about teaser trailers. We found on a large scale that fast paced trailers were most popular It was also clear that despite the audience wanting to understand what genre they were watching and a general idea of what it entailed, it was vital to not give away the whole plot. We asked the focus group what kind of themes they thought made for an exciting and appealing plot and we learnt that the majority of answers included violence, money, sex and drugs. So this was definitely something we carefully considered when storyboarding initially for our piece and consolidating the plot. By asking the group for examples of their favourite urban drama films and trailers, we were then able to de-construct them and find the reoccurring components, which made them successful, this aided us in our research. We found films such as adulthood and 4.3.2.1 to have the most popular trailers. Through our further research we found that what people found so exciting about modern urban drama, was the sense of 'survival of the fittest' which was often portrayed through the media texts. This influenced us in the plot content and character development for our piece greatly.


Our questionnaire was given to media students completing their AS level Media, although this isn't an appropriate representation of all the people who will see the film, it gave us a more informed idea of what could be improved from a source which could identify the right kind of key aspects which could help us to achieve a higher quality in our product. We asked them to watch the trailer twice through before answering each question, we did this after we had finished creating the piece so that we were able to make informed changes before submission.

The results from this questionnaire found that the genre was very clear to the audience, signifying that the conventions closely follows those appropriate to the urban drama genre. Comments made by the participants such as "Due to location and non-diegetic sound" suggested that we had conformed closely enough to the kinds of features which clearly signify the genre. It was helpful to know that the genre came across effectively.

The results told us that although the tracks we used were fitting to our genre and created the right atmosphere, at certain points the sound could have reached more of a climax to help build necessary tension in order for the plot to be effectively presented. 

To respond to this feedback, we made a lot of changes concerning the order of shots against the non-diegetic sound. Making sound improvements was challenging as the footage was edited against the sound previously, so it proved difficult to move pieces of sound around without obstructing the footage order. 

Another problem we had with sound was that the audience sample reported that the diegetic sound often sounded muffled against the non-diegetic rap music. This was easily improved using final cut pro features to differentiate between the sounds.

The survey result also encouraged us to use more post production effects, as these were popular with the audience sample and by putting more in we would be more consistent in the conventions we were creating for ourselves. We decided after seeing this that we could use more black and white shots and more flash/zoom effects within the piece. (click here to see how we did this).

We had to consider all of the feedback carefully as we knew that it would vary greatly between different groups of people, this was especially clear in the answers to one of the questions asking them to state which feature of the film was. The answers given were spread across all of the options. 

This highlighted the importance of meeting all of their needs in terms of genre clarity and structure with hints of the plot but also to show variety and surprises throughout to reach all kinds of people as part of an audience. 

(click here for survey monkey)

Mise en scene (Party room/ drug den)

When creating the setting for some of the shots it was really important to consider the context of the shots. In this location we shot most of the drug related shots. It was important to portray the gritty lifestyle of our protagonist. I really wanted to make sure that it wasn't glamorized and that it seemed gritty and unclean. I aimed to make it look like there had been previously a party there and nobody had bothered to clean up, leaving empty beer bottles and food packaging around.

                       

                           
I put a sleeping bad and a portable heater inside to make it have a sort of squat feel to it, suggesting that the protagonist had a difficult home/ work life which meant that sometimes he had to sleep on the sofa with a sleeping bag. This highlights the kind of poverty some working class live in which works well with the key themes which are often explored in the genre.

The walls are all bare, so that it is clear this isn't a family home and doesn't have any positive or friendly feeling elements.


                           
The white powder substance is a cocaine placebo, the baggy reinforces this drug use and the lighter indicates smoking alongside a large amount of empty alcoholic containers which again is suggestive of some of the key themes and concepts explored within similar media products such as alcoholism and drug abuse.


                           

Protagonist Costume Ideas

In my research of a range of urban drama films, a key costume feature which reoccurs in most of them is a classic branded tracksuit. This is especially appropriate for boy characters. Our protagonist is a male character so something like this will be very appropriate. Since we are creating a trailer we will have more than one character so we will have to start collecting and finding multiple tracksuit garments for the actors to wear. Layering of these kinds of items is also common with body warmers or North Face jackets being popular with the kind of social group we are trying to imitate. For females we are looking at more skimpy outfits with accessories such as big hoop earrings and short skirts.
We should think about maybe using an aspect of costume to highlight the protagonist against some of the other characters for example having brighter trainers. This will allow this character to be set apart from the other characters in the trailer, which is important in trailers to clarify the plot for the film.
Multiple costumes will be required for the protagonist alone as it is a trailer so all the shots take place along a longer period of time. So he will have to represented for more than one day.

• Nike trainers (Air force)
• Matching branded tracksuit (most likely Nike)
• Plain t-shirt
• Chain necklace? 
• Little satchel? 
• Big puffa jacket? 

Shooting script: Day 6

12:30 pm: arrive at car park location
12:45 pm: get shots running through car park
01:00 pm: get shots of car park ceiling whilst moving

BREAK

04:00 pm: meet at second location, empty basketball court
04:15 pm: costume change into tracksuits
04:25 pm: shots of Ben fighting
04:35 pm: shots of Ben climbing fences and gates
04:45 pm: filming day ends

Evaluation:

• The fighting scenes were shot on school premises. We tried to make this as unnoticeable as possible. 
• Difficult to keep the camera steady whilst filming the tracking shot of the car park ceiling. We will attempt to stabilise this shot in the editing stages on the software Final Cut Pro.  

Shooting script: Day 5

06:00 pm: actor arrives (Kevin)
06:10 pm: costume change into suit and eccentric tie
06:15 pm: props gathered
06:15 pm: shoot optional speaking shots with Kevin outside
06:30 pm: shots of Kevin speaking inside, using various angles and rooms.
07:00 pm: Holly arrives
07:15 pm: costume changes
07:20 pm: shots of Holly drinking alcohol and doing 'balloons'
07:50 pm: filming day ends

Evaluation:

• We do not possess a proper microphone used for filming so we had to make do with the in-built microphone of the camera. This limited the quality of shots filmed with diegetic sound such as actor (Kevin) speaking. 

Shooting script: Day 4

05:30 pm: arrive at filming location inside house
05:45 pm: gather props such as roll of money
05:50 pm: film shots with Ben giving mother character money
06:00 pm: test night street lighting
06:15 pm: get shots of Ben in street
06:35 pm: filming day ends

Evaluation:

• Very low levels of light outside made it hard to film without needing a light source. We got around this by using a low street light to light up Ben's face properly. 
• We were unable to produce a roll of money big enough so we had to make do with as much as we had.

Shooting script: Day 3

04:00 pm: locational shots such as Ferris wheel
04:30 pm: locational shots of Canary wharf and city
05:00 pm: get skateboard and film forward-tracking Greenwich underpass shot
06:00 pm: get multiple skateboard shots of Greenwich underpass
06:15 pm: filming day finishes

Evaluation:

• Greenwich underpsas forward-tracking shot was more successful than anticipated although it proved difficult to keep the shot steady- we will attempt to stabilise the shot in Final Cut Pro during the editing stages. 

Shooting script: Day 2

BUS JOURNEY TO FIRST LOCATION
01:00 pm: arrive at underpass location
01:15 pm: actors arrive (Ben and Justas)
01:20 pm: set up props such as placebo joint and test lighting for best shots
01:30 pm: take range of shots of boys smoking
01:50 pm: drug deal over underpass shot
02:00 pm: shots of Ben smoking alone
03:15 pm: filming day ends

Evaluation:

• Filming a range of shots were effective and gave us options and choice whilst editing our teaser trailer.
• Overcast weather was not ideal and not what we had hoped for.

Shooting script: Day 1

10:00 am: set up shed into drug den setting mise en scene including open cans of beer, bottles, cigarettes, baggies etc

11:00 am: get props sorted such as faux cocaine
11:30 am: Ben arrives
11:40 am: Ben changes into costume
11:50 am: shots of Ben preparing drugs from a variety of angles.

BUS JOURNEY TO SECOND LOCATION

01:30 pm: Buy cigarettes and prepare costume
02:00 pm: Meet Monique, Rebecca and Holly at the skate park, with camera and tripod.
02:30 pm: get a variety of shots of them smoking in front of the graffiti skate ramp

BUS JOURNEY TO THIRD LOCATION

03:30 pm: shots of girl putting lighter to spoon and foil
04:00 pm: filming day ends

Evaluation:

• Struggled slightly in the logistics of the correct actor(s) being ready to film when scheduled.
• Props (fake drugs) worked well- looked realistic and actors were able to use them authentically.

Draft feedback and improvements 7

One of the more challenging pieces of feedback we were given was to take out some of the shots which did not add any relevance to making the plot clear or character development.  This was particularly hard as some of the shots we were attached to in a sense that they took a lot of time and effort to capture so being critical in relation to our own work was a hard step. To make these improvements we took out shots such as the one of the girls smoking because it did not supplement the plot in any way and also the shot of the girl putting a lighter to a spoon as it did not match the standard of some of the other drug abuse shots. This increased the standard of the whole piece because all the shots were tighter and it gave the piece a better quality.

This was also successful in that it helped the group learn to be more self critical so that we could now see which parts were letting the trailer down and which parts were worth keeping. This is a crucial part of media production.

Draft feedback and improvements 6

A smaller issue which was reflected in the feedback we were given for our first draft was that the titles weren't big or bold enough to have the kind of impact which we wanted to create. So in response to this we increased the size and boldness levels of the text using final cut pro text editing. This made the text stand out a lot more and made it seem more professional in its finish.
Before:

And after:

Another problem with the titles was that half of them were put onto a black photographic background which looked very amateur. So we then decided to put them on top of moving footage, we hadn't previously done this because we had some technical difficulties in putting the text on top of moving footage but after we spent some time looking into it, we found an effective method of putting it on top of the moving footage correctly.

Before:

After:

Draft feedback and improvements 5

A main issue with our piece was that there was not enough shots of the protagonist, that it was clear that he was the protagonist and it was important that we make it obvious that he was a key element of the trailer so that the audience could identify with him before even considering to want to watch the film.
To overcome this, it made sense to add more shots of him. such as the ones of him jumping over a fence and a close up of his beaten face. This was effective in just making sure that the audience would be able to easily pick out who the protagonist was in the piece and it also added to the plot.

Draft feedback and improvements 4

Our first draft lacked the thrilling dramatic shots which would have created the right atmosphere for the genre of our piece. So we decided to go out and film some more violent up beat and fast paced shots for the trailer to try and enhance the tension and build alongside the increasing pace of the shots. An example of an improvement we made according to this would be that we filmed a series of violent shots including a shot of the protagonist with a black eye, a shot of him laying in a pool of blood next to a bat and a shot of him being pushed into a fence. After putting these in it made a huge improvement clarifying the plot line and reinforcing the classic conventions of urban drama film.

We also added more action related shots like a shot of a BMW driving towards the camera and a shot of two characters engaging in a shifty drug deal.

Draft feedback and improvements 3

The feedback implied that we should include more post production effects like the red flashes that we used in one of the drug usage shots. So in response to this we began to use them in all of the drug related shots in the media. These effects made the shot flash in red/white/yellow and zooming in to parts of the shot. Using effects like this was also a convention which we found in other media texts such as American tv show, The Wire.

This feedback also encouraged us to use more post production effects such as putting multiple shots in black and white to signify and connote that they took place in the past. This was effective in giving the piece variation in the shots and adding to the plot.

Draft feedback and improvements 2

Another key piece of feedback we received was that there was a problem with the clarity of the drug bosses voice when used as diegetic sound. This was a simple problem which was then easily solved using final cut pro features to separate parts of the sound and then fade the volume down and bringing it back up when the diegetic sound was finished. This was also true even of when it was just used as sound rather than having a visual shot as well. This dramatically improved the quality of the sound so that it could be clearly heard which made the piece seem more professional and enhanced the clearness of the plot as the message of his speech was important in reinforcing the events of the storyline.

This also helped us to realise that the sound should be faded in more gradually in general for the trailer. Such as when the classical music is first introduced from the string sound at the start, which we also decided that it needed to be faded in, this neatened the sound in a all around sense.

Draft Feedback and Improvements 1

One of the main points made in the feedback from our first draft was that the Sound didn't match the points at which tension rose in the visual shots. This is important when trying to build the tension and trying to make the trailer enticing and exciting to watch because the obvious purpose of a trailer is to encourage the audience to watch. The urban genre requires an action feel to it with a lot of apprehending shots for example of the protagonist running or violent shots.
To improve this we changed the timing and order of some shots. For example when the classical music first explodes into a rap song, we changed it from a shot of the protagonist walking, which is slow paced and not very successful in building a sufficient excitement in the audience, to a shot of our protagonist racking lines of cocaine. This is much more efficient in emotionally arousing the viewers.


So it went from this:

To this:

Other similar changes were made at points of louder beats such as moving shots around from this:

 To this:

Ill manors poster deconstruction

The grey colouring used in the poster is a key convention of urban drama posters, to represent the concrete feel of the setting. The lighting of this poster is dark which is a reflection of the narrative and issues explored in the film. The fish eye styled framing of the image is effective in disorientating the audience and making the buildings seem even taller and more intimidating. The plain and simple text stands out from the background, this also conforms to the conventions of urban drama film posters where the white or black text contrasts against the picture. This poster subverts conventions of urban drama posters by not using a third bright colour. It sticks to a dark, dull scheme which is most likely a reflection of the sinister story told in the film. Something which caught my eye in this poster was the image of the character overlapping the typography of the title. It is something which is probably a bit ambitious for us to achieve in our poster but we could look into it when experimenting with Photoshop. The tracksuit is appropriate mise en scene to the genre and the gun is also a feature which fits with the conventions of urban drama products.

Shooting Day One

It was important right from the start to get strong elements of the plot filmed and into our piece as fast as possible. This shooting day was focused on the presentation of our protagonist in affiliation with the drug industry.

During this shoot, I set up a room as a bit of a party/drug den so it could be appropriate for our protagonist to make drug preparations for selling in. I arranged a mixture of empty and full alcoholic beverage bottles alongside empty food wrappers and smoking items in the room to show the kinds of dirty and neglected lifestyle our protagonist lives. I then used a glass slab and a credit card as the key piece of mise en scene for the shoot. Using the vitamin D I had previously experimented with to create a false cocaine substance and some 'baggies' purchased from Camden to imitate the ones I had seen in urban drama films such as Ill Manors, to put the vitamin d inside after crushing and measuring out.

I tried to get a range of shots from different angles to provide the opportunity to select the best few for the trailer. This shoot was successful in getting some good shots for the trailer to enhance the clarity of the drug relative narrative. Some of the issues from this shoot were getting good angles without my shadow in the shot or unclear shots. I tried to get some shots from underneath the glass tray (for racking lines) but found that it was too close and unclear.