P1 T1 Initial response to the brief

My response to the brief- T1

Purpose
The purpose of the product is entirely entertainment, the short film needs to be engaging for the target audience (16-24). As the product is being made just to entertain this means that it can be completely free on what is made (genre, characters) the film should be fiction to give it that better sense of being just for entertainment purposes. If the film was non-fiction it would not appeal to the target audience as they are not typically watchers of things such as documentaries or factual films.

Medium
The product is going to be a film so it will be in the Film sector of the media.

Form
It is going to be a short film around 5-10 minutes long, it needs to be entertaining as stated earlier. To meet the requirement for the length of time of the film should be we will need to introduce characters early and establish the setting quickly. This allows a long time to focus on story without being confused about where it is and who is in it. The story cant be too complex as it is only a short time that it will have to convey the story.

Target Audience
The product needs to be tailored to suit a target audience of 16-24 years old, this gives a very open place for genre and story and also content. The film can contain swear words and violence but they shouldn't be overused in a short film otherwise it will seem to reliant on those things.

Proposed budget
Provided that we only shot in one location the film should take between £500-£1000 per one minute of completed script this means the film should be estimated to cost anywhere around £5500 for the completed product.

Proposed timeline 
The product is needing to be completed by the 31st October 2019 this means we should have completed planning by roughly July 13th and then filming should commence from that point onward to about mid August leaving around a month to edit the film to completion. 

Storyboard evaluations

Period 1 evaluation task of media storyboard.

Bullet point 1 does the storyboard meet the client brief:

The storyboard matches the client brief because it shows the fruit being picked with shows that they are ‘fresh fruits’ as it says in the client brief. The storyboard shows a family gathering which conveys it being family friendly which was requested in the client brief. It also shows children at the family gathering showing that everyone wants to drink the fruit. It communicates a sense of freshness as it is set outside with nature and everyone seems to be happy.  It shows the product to be making the scenes of happiness that are being portrayed in the storyboard which could be enticing for people to buy the product.

Bullet point 2 suitability of purpose with the various different staff that would have to work on the product

The task seems somewhat easy to film and it would be reasonably cheap because it was set outside and wasn’t that long their is only a few actors and the setting is only a farm. It would be quite easy to locate a suitable setting that would match this storyboard. They may struggle to film it without it raining and it would have to be filmed in a spring time season because of the fields needing to be grown and look like they have crops in. It would be easy to film as it is in a big open space and it would be easy to get filming equipment out to film it.

Bullet point 3 checks the suitability of the product with all the different audiences that could see it.

The storyboard is clear and no matter who seen this whether it was a cameraman or an editor they would understand what they would have to do to help create the product. The storyboard is long and in detail showing what it is that they want to make. Location trackers would know that it is on a farm in what seems like the countryside. A camera man would know what shot types they would have to use. Acting scouts would know the range of ages of the actors they would need. Editors would know what they have to do. It is a very clear storyboard and doesn’t leave anything to the imagination.

Project management

Project management tools

The production of a digital media product is a complex project containing a multitude of tasks together with the allocation of a wide variety of resources. There are a number of tools that can be used to manage this product, which allow these tasks and resources to be allocated and monitored efficiently. 

Project management software 

Modern computer systems have allowed the development of software to manage projects in a more efficient manner. There are a wide variety of programs that have been developed that contain a range of features. Most programs contain the following:

• Resource allocation- Each task and the project overall requires specific resources. This feature allows the resources to be allocated to specific tasks and quickly and efficiently so that nothing is wasted and any gaps can be swiftly identified.
• Report creation/printing- Working within a team to create a project requires good communication to happen quickly and efficiently. Reports allow information to be given to different members of the project easily so that they are aware of what their role is in the project.
• Task allocation- A project is broken down into its varied tasks and these can be allocated to specific people working on the project 
• Scheduling- Once the tasks have been created, the whole project can be scheduled with specific time frames being given to tasks can then be put together to create the overall project by the deadline.

Overall, project management allows all of these aspects to be created quickly and efficiently with the software carrying out most of the processing in the background based on the data that is given. The software available ranges from free open-source products to those that charge monthly subscription fees, and finally to bespoke software that costs a large sum to purchase. 

• Spreadsheets- Project management can be carried out using spreadsheet software with the various cells in the spreadsheets allocated for task allocation and scheduling.
• Project schedule- A timetable that allocates resources and processes to a project. Starting with the final deadline for a project, you work backwards, allocating tasks, resources, contingencies and time to the various aspects of the procedure. 

Key terms:

• Milestones- checkpoints built into tasks so that the media production allows tracking for performance against a deadline.
• Gantt chart- A timetable schedule of tasks with resources allocated to them. Uses blocks of colour to symbolise periods in a visual way.
• Production schedule- An overall view of a media production with all the tasks, resources and timescales included.
• Contingency- A back up resource; extra time that is allocated to a task. 

What factors can be used

Demographics:
Class
Age
Gender
Ethnicity

Geodemographics:
Location

Socio-Economic:
Earnings, Employment, Salary

Psychographics:
Attitudes, values, lifestyle

Mainstream versus niche:
Does the product have a broad general appeal.


Welsh Mocha:
1. The target audience are from Wales as it says 'opening in five cities in South Wales'.
    The target audience will be from the age of about 16 to late 40s.
    The target audience will be in the upper bracket of the ABC1 as they have a disposable income.

2. The fact that they are from Wales is the Geodemographic and it effects its as people from Wales might have different interests compared to people who are from England or Scotland this could effect the final product because in Wales they have the lowest earnings for people ages 22 to 29 in comparisons to everywhere else in the UK they also have the lowest wage for 40 to 49 year olds this shows that Welsh Mocha will be targeting a Niche audience.

The target audience are from the age of 16 to late 40s this effects the final product because people of this age are younger and therefore are more energetic and therefore in the final product it will be more brightly coloured.

The target audience are in the upper bracket of the ABC1 so they will be more work based and this means we could have booths with charging points for people with Laptops. They have a high disposable income so we could serve the coffee out of different shaped glasses to fit the theme of the Welsh Mocha.

What are the key financial considerations for media producers?

Time issues:

Time constraints can come in many forms and are one of the most important aspects to keep in mind when planning a media production. The production of a media product is always carried out to meet a deadline that is often related to its final publication. 

During the project itself there are other time constraints that may impact on the production. These will vary depending upon the type of media product during...

Personel issues:

Gathering the right staff- the appropriate number with the right skills and experience - for a media production is an important aspect of pre-production. During pre-production, the right skills and experience of the personnel required will be concerned. 

Pat Campbell interview questions:

1)What does the role of a production designer entail?

A) The production designer is a general term, the production designer would be involved with all the costume designers and would discuss the lighting with the lighting people. The production designer gets to have a say in every element of production and gets to discuss every part  of it to find a common view. The production will work quite closely with the director. 

2)During a production which other member of the production and which other areas of the production  does the production designer co-ordinate with?

A) The production designer will work with nearly every member of the production and they are involved with every aspect and element of the production. For example talking about costumes with the costume designers.

3)What issues with locations can occur during the production of a TV drama?

A) In old buildings there can be things that cannot be moved due to the age of like furniture, for example when Campbell did Wolf Hall there were furniture that could not be moved and had to be covered over or built over. Some popular locations can't be used because they are large tourist locations and they are too expensive.

4)What skills, education and experience is it beneficial for a production designer to gain?

A) It is good to have an artistic background being able to draw whether that was on a computer or by hand being able to draw is very useful. It is also good to be able to communicate well with lots of people as thats what Pat Campbell's job consists mostly of. She did a degree in art. 

5)During the production itself, where are the working locations that a production designer tends to work and how do these relate to the actual filming of a TV drama?

A) A production designer is never on set when filming is taking place however Pat likes to go to et every morning before filming to make sure that the director is happy. A production designer tends to just be where they need to be whether that be with as seamstress that is sewing for the job or with the costume designer. They tend to be based close to set all the time though. 

Call of Duty is considered as a Triple AAA game. By definition a Triple AAA game has a large budget and a large number of people working on them, they have a professional and polished final product in terms of graphics and gameplay. Although the 3 A's don't stand for anything in particular they are thought to mean that the game requires: 

• A lot of time
• A lot of resources
• A lot of money

Employees at Treyarch have salaries ranging from an average of $62,641 to $162,886. At Treyarch employees with the Job title Video Game Producer make the most with an annual salary of around $125,000, while employees with the job title Graphic Artist / Designer make the least with an average of $51,211 annually.

Computer Programmers for Treyarch get paid $83,000 annually.

A 3D Artist for Treyarch would get around $95,000 annually.

A software engineer for Treyarch would  get paid $107,000 annually.

An animator for Treyarch would get paid $87,000 annually.

impact of media products on audiences

Impact of media products on their audiences

• What is meant by the media effects debate?
• Can you provide details of media based moral panics?

censorship is the banning of some sort of content.

classification is regulating the content and who sees it. 

Classification issues:

• Dangerous behaviour
• Discrimination
• Drugs
• Language
• Nudity
• Sex
• Sexual violence and sexual threat 
• Threat and horror
• Violence

1. Texas chainsaw massacre - 18 - 18. I think this is appropriate. 

2. Apostle - 16 - 18. This is probably appropriate because its messed up.

3. silence of the lambs - 18 - 15  I would of thought that this film would of been higher, maybe because it is an older film and the graphics weren't as good. 

4. human centipede - 18 - 18 

5. Kill bill vol 1 - 18 - 18 

Data types and research methods.

Be able to evaluate and research data used by media institutions. 

• Research techniques and methods.

What are the basic classifications of research and what are the strengths and weaknesses:

• Primary- Information that you have researched and found out yourself.
• Secondary- Information that other people have found out.
• Quantitive- Getting as much data as possible but it may be in less detail.
• Qualitative- Getting less data but it is in more detail and it is more valuable.

Media companies do research into their target market to see what they like/dislike so they don't waste money as they could be spending millions of pounds on these products. 

Quantitative- 

• A downfall is that people may not be truthful in questionaires and they may lie just so that they finish it quicker
• There are many strengths with this type as it is quick and easy and they may have a wide range of answers and statistics. 

Qualitative- 

• A downfall of this type is that it takes a long time and people may lie as they have been put on the spot. 
• The strengths are that it is very detailed information and it can help to understand in a clearer way than quantitative.

Secondary-

• One weakness would be that it could be unofficial and/or done by a not professional person. The reviews could be done by one person with a different opinion to everyone else. 
• One strength is that it is easy to access secondary data and it is easier to get this than doing a survey yourself. 

Primary-

• The strength of this research is that it usually results in very useful and detailed information. You can find out what you want to find out and not what other people wanted to find out. 
• One weakness is that people could not like the options that you have given them and it is very time consuming. 

Zombie horror films.

Zombie Horrors.

Most zombie horror films start with absolutely no explanation for how it became a zombie apocalypse and what may of happened to make there be ravenous dead people running around eating other people. Instead of giving an explanation for why these mindless zombies are running around killing people films like Zombieland and Dawn of the dead have absolutely no explanation for the zombies at all and instead the films go straight into very gory violence that normally introduces our main character. 

It is very typical for our protagonist to seem very nerdy and be a very unlikely survivor within the world of zombies, in the case of Zombieland we are introduced to Columbus who is a skinny nerdy looking character who does not look as though he would be able to hold his own in a fight because he doesn't have any muscle, In Dawn of the dead we are introduced to Ana who is a young Blonde skinny woman, which stereo typically would need saving by a stronger male because they are seen as being weaker than men. In 28 days later the main character wakes up after being in hospital and walks around the deserted streets of London wondering where everyone has gone (which again  gives no explanation for why there are zombies).

Obviously these characters would probably not survive on there own throughout a whole film length and they would need to find a badass muscly character who at first hates our protagonist but realizes overtime that you know what they aren't that bad, this badass character will be shown to have a soft side as well that you didn't expect. In the case in Zombieland Tallahssee is seen as being a very strong miserable badass who hates everyone but gets immense pleasure out of killing zombies however he is seen to have a sad past when he talks about how the zombies killed his dog.In 28 days later Jim finds Naomie who his not what you'd expect a typical badass to look like but for a while she odes help Jim out, until Jim has the strength later on in the film to save Naomie.

In most zombie films its not just the zombies that our protagonist and badass sidekick will have to look out for because in the majority of zombie films they find an evil human who plans on either killing our protagonist or being an overall inconvenience in some way or another. In The case of Zombieland Columbus and Tallahassee find Wichita and Little rock who steal their car and guns twice, however in this case they end up becoming friends and killing Bill Murray by accident together. In 28 Days later Jim and Naomie find Major Henry who plans on getting his men to rape Noamie and Hannah who is only about 14 in the film.

In the majority of Zombie films there ends up being a very dodgy romance story that would never happen unless there was a zombie apocalypse in the case of Zombieland Columbus ends up getting with Wichita after he saves her at the end of the film from a massive amount of zombies that come to the amusement park that they were at. In 28 days later Jim ends up getting with Naomie after he saves her from Major Henry and the rapist soldiers.

Most Zombie films end with a big fight scene where they kill many many zombies and there is so much 'zombie slaying' that will probably make you feel sick from the amount of guts and blood that you see being thrown all over the screen. This is obviously a major audience pleasure for a fan of zombie films as they are going to want to see as many zombies killed and/or humans killed by zombies as possible. I've linked the final battles for Zombieland below.

Zombieland final fight - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz2_sA1RxJY
The walking dead farm fight scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8MMUnaV7j8

I think that most audiences who watch zombie horror films do not particularly  care for an over the top plot or an explanation for why there are zombies running around they mostly just want death and a lot of it. They want some violence, some gore, maybe some romance but not a lot of it.

Mise-en-scene

• The typical costumes that we would expect the characters or the zombies to be wearing would be like ripped old dirty clothes depending on how long it is supposedly been since the apocalypse began.

• The typical setting of a zombie film would be mostly city based as thats where the higher populations would be and thus have more zombies.

• Some typical props would be Guns, Knives and maybe creepy stuff like chains or teddy bears for child zombies.

• There tends to be very monotone colour dark yellows and light browns to create this feeling of death. 

Sound

• We hear a lot of diegetic sound such as gun shots,  zombies groaning or bullets penetrating the skin of a zombie being burst.
• Non Diegetic sound such as music would probably be quite intense music with a heavy drum beat to make it very suspenseful. 

Editing

• Most zombie films would start with not really much cuts it would start slow and introduce us to our main character.
• As the film goes on and there is our be all and end all fight the cuts become more frequent and it speeds up the action. 
• There could be a few shot-counter shots as our protagonist would maybe see his/hers first zombie.

Camera 

• There is a lot of establishing shots to show the masses of zombies that can be around or in an area.

Here are some critic reviews for Zombieland:
'Horiffically Hilarious! Fun, Funny, and Scary!

This is a great, original comedy. It made me laugh out-loud many times. But it was VERY scary with lots of zombie violence and gore, the type you'd see in 28 Days Later or Dawn of the Dead. If you've seen Shaun of the Dead you'll get an idea of what this is like: hilarious, but scary and graphically gory. PARENTS: kids will be freaked out by some jump scenes and a zombie clown (I'm not even afriad of clowns and it scared the crud out of me)! Very gory, almost gruesomely so, but very funny. If you can handle lots of graphic gore and a zombie clown (who doesn't show up for very long; only one scene, but it's freaky), then you should enjoy this awesome comedy. Thanks for reading - Movie Man'

In most zombie horrors Claude Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposition can be applied as it is mostly dead vs alive. With the zombies being dead and whatever group of surviving people against them. 

Audience theory

The Two step flow theory.

The two step flow theory was thought up by Katz & Lazarsfield, 1955.

Considerable support for the two-step flow of information- Almost half the information that originates from the media passes to the masses indirectly via a diffuse intermediate layer of opinion leaders, who although classified as ordinary users, are more connected and more exposed to the media than their followers. 

Media- opinion leaders- followers 

1. The media being the news or information that can be interpreted different by certain  people.
2. Opinion leaders are defined as people who are respected individuals within the community. Such as prominent celebrities or journalists, however nowadays opinion leaders tend to sides the media entirely and speak with us directly using social media.
3. The opinion leaders would then pass on the information that they have interpreted onto their followers. 

An example of an opinion leader giving information onto their followers would be Al Gore doing a documentary about global warming. His followers would watch this and if they particularly liked him as a person they would tend to believe him and believe what he says over other people. 

This media however could be very biased as a particular opinion leader may have a particular understanding that would make the media then  be misread or misunderstood as the followers only see what the opinion leaders see. 

hypodermic model -?
Reception theory-?
Uses and gratification theory-?

Genre- Theories

Genre

David Chandler says this about genre: Conventional definitions of genres tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure and style) which are shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them. 
John Fiske says: 'Genre attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture for the convenience of both audience and producers'.
David Bordwell says: 'any theme may appear in any genre' He asks: 'Are animation and documentary films genres or modes? Is the filmed play or comedy performance a genre? If tragedy and comedy are genres, perhaps then domestic tragedy or slapstick is a formula'

Denis McQuail argues that:
The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to pro- duce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its cus- tomers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered as a mechanism for ordering the relations between the two main parties to mass communication.

Memento

The film Memento is about a man who's wife died in an attack that he also lost his memory in. Lenny (our protagonist) does not have the ability to make new memories and the only thing that he can remember is his wife who was raped and murdered by a man that knows simply as 'John G' Lenny has partners who at first we think are friends helping Lenny to find John G however we realise that Natalie and Teddy are using him for different things because they understand that Lenny will not remember anything. The film ends with Lenny killing Teddy after realising that Teddy is using Lenny to kill people.

In the film Memento we can apply Propp's theory of characters his theory was that in every film there are 7 types of characters or 'spheres of action'. the first character type is the hero, who in the case of Memento would probably be Lenny we see him trying to avenge the rape and murder of his wife, however the difficulty with Lenny is that he is very easily tricked into doing bad things by Teddy. The next one of Propp's character types is the villain kn this film the villain would be Teddy because he tricks Lenny into killing people who he says are John G but they aren't in fact John G but as Lenny cant remember killing anyone and he does not know what John G looks like Teddy can get Lenny to continue to kill random people who he says are John G at the end of the film Lenny realises that this is what Teddy has been doing and he kills Teddy. The third one of Propp's character types is the Donor who is Natalie, the Donor is said to give the hero thing and in memento we see Natalie supplying Lenny with information about John G however this information maybe incorrect as we do not know if Natalie was a good person and if she was actually trying to help. The Helper in this film would probably be Lenny's tattoos and photographs as although they are not actual characters we see these helping Lenny to try to figure out who John G is. However the thing with Lenny's tattoos is that he does not even know that he has them until he sees them as he forgets and i guess you could say that instead of the tattoos being the helper the actual tattooist is the Helper. The Princess is in this film Lenny's wife as she was murdered and she meant a lot to Lenny. The dispatcher is Lenny's bad memory because if Lenny had a normal memory and could make new memories and didn't forget everything then he would really have a mission because he would of already done it. In this film I think that as well as being the actual hero Lenny is also the false hero as because what he is doing is wrong and because he has been killing the wrong this whole time without knowing.

The film Memento can have the theory of Levi Strauss applied to it as well, his theory stated that a films conflict comes from different sets of binary opposition. In Memento there are a few Binary oppositions that add to the plot and cause conflict within the story. I think that the biggest binary opposite within this film is Memory vs Forgetting as Lenny has a very hard time with his memory and is unsure who to trust and what has happened. Without Lenny's poor memory the film wouldn't have the big conflict. Lenny's memory is roughly about 10 minutes after that he forgets what he has done or is doing. There is one scene within the film were we see an example of this as Lenny is running alongside a man who has a gun and we hear his thought processes in his head as he does not remember what has happened leading up to this point and he says 'am I chasing him, no, hes chasing me' this shows the extent to which Lenny's memory is bad. The most common of these binary oppositions that tends to exist in most films would be Good Vs Evil in this film the lines between good and evil are quite blurred and we learn that the characters that we believe to be good aren't actually good and they have been using Lenny for the fact that he has a bad memory. Even Lenny himself because of how easily he is manipulated could not really be considered as good because what he is doing is trying be good and avenge his wife but Teddy uses Lenny to kill other people that Lenny believes to be John G but they aren't but as Lenny cant remember killing them he continues his hunt for John G.

This film had two narratives, one that was in black and white and one in colour. The narrative that was in black and white was going backwards and the one that was in colour was going in chronological order. The film would jump between these two narratives and it started with Lenny killing Teddy in black and white and ended with Lenny killing Teddy in colour because we saw how the events unfolded to get to that point. Todorov has a theory about narrative his theory states that there are 5 stages in all narratives for the sake of this essay I am just going to focus on the colour narrative and not both. The first stage states that there is a state of equilibrium where all is normal or what is expected to be normal within the film this would be Lenny living with his bad memory and looking for the murderer of his wife. The next stage within any narrative according to Todorov is that there is a disruption of this equilibrium, in this case i think the disruption would be the introduction of the character of Teddy and how he 'helps' Lenny find John G. According to Todorov after this there would be a recognition that the equilibrium has been disrupted in this case I don't think that this stage applies because of a Lenny's bad memory obviously he would be unable to know or remember if something changed however as an audience we start to realise that Teddy is using him. The next stage would be an attempt to repair the disruption of the equilibrium in this case when Lenny goes to the abandoned motel to kill who he thinks is John G and he realises that Teddy is making him kill random people and that John G might all ready be dead Lenny kills Teddy. The last stage within Todorov's theory would be a new equilibrium, when Lenny kills Teddy this sets a new equilibrium because Lenny will no longer have distractions on finding John G from Teddy and he will be able to search for John G although he may already be dead and he may not know it.

In conclusion I think that the film Memento can have all three theories applied to it: Propp's theory of character types, Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposition and it can partially have Todorov's theory of narrative applied to it. However because of the unique way that this film is set out with the different narratives it is hard to apply Todorov's theory.

Magazine cover analysis