1) The document summarizes a student's film project on the gangster genre titled "All About Money". 2) The student was influenced by the opening scenes of the films "Snatch" and "Goodfellas" and aimed to use similar techniques like freeze frames to introduce characters. 3) Through the process, the student learned about using camera and editing software, and feels their skills improved from their preliminary task to the final project.

1. Film EvaluationI used the title ‘All About Money’ because money relates to gangsters, its why the become gangsters in the first place.All about MoneyActivity 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)In my planning and research I had to figure out what time of genre I wanted to focus on, after a long and hard think I came to a ‘Gangster’ genre. I was influenced hugely by the opening scene of a hit movie called ‘Snatch’ which had four award wins and five nominations for the movie. I also focussed on ‘Goodfellas’ because of it’s gangster genre and was also a hit throughout the world. So I wanted to use a lot of black to define the gangster in the opening, hence the black jackets and hoodie.But the opening to ‘Snatch’ really caught my eye, the action then freeze frame to introduce the character, I was influenced by this and wanted to use a similar idea in my own project, so I began to focus my whole project around the ‘Snatch’ freeze frame character introduction opening. However I was stuck on how I would do that so what I did was save the frame and then import the frame into Photoshop where I then edited it (Black and white, White glow and Yellow text)Neil Powis

2. Film EvaluationAll about MoneyActivity 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups ?I have chosen the character of ‘Steve Bentley’ from my project and ‘Doug The Head’ from Snatch. I believe they play a similar role, they both are at the top of the chain, the main guy’s who give the orders, they don’t do the physical part of the job, they do the mental/thinking part.The similarity I went for in my project was to have my character also behind some sort of desk, going over figures and giving the orders. From Snatch ‘Doug’ is seen opening a book and giving the orders. I wanted to portray that no-one messes with the top guy.‘Doug’ is seen looking fairly smart whereas ‘Steve’ is only wearing a leather jacket and some business jeans, this can show that there is a slight difference between them, from the image you can see clearly that ‘Doug’ is giving the orders and from the image from my project ‘Steve’ has a gun on the table which can connote that some times he has to get his hands dirty and do the job himself if his fellow gangsters can’t do the job right. Usually the ‘Top guy’ is smart and does all the planning of the job’s, with ‘Doug’ looking smartly dressed as it is, ‘Steve’ is writing something down which the viewer may think a plan.‘Doug The Head’Neil Powis

3. Film EvaluationI don’t believe my film would cost a lot to produce. You could use already made settings instead of making them and props such as costumes are easy to come by for a gangster film (suits & hoodies).I think it would mainly cost to get a good cast to populate the film, for example bring in one world wide known actor for a part, although in saying that local British actors do have a good effect in a film, for example. Lock stock and two smoking barrels and Snatch mostly contain British actors and both films was a huge success.After the film being made the advertisement is a big part, if the advertisement is perfected it will draw people in to watch the movie and purchase the movie on DVD/Blu-ray etc. Billboards, Trailers, YouTube, Television Adverts and interviews would all be good ways of advertisement to blow the film up to make it popular.In conclusion, Working Title is a well funded distributor because it is a branch of Universal Studios. I think with the correct funds and correct advertising the film could make some money and be enjoyed by the public.All about MoneyActivity 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?The key features of my opening has got to be the freeze frames with the action, I really feel it is a good way to introduce a character to the scene/movie. I believe it can draw the viewer’s attention to the movie by introducing the character by text instead of finding out later in the opening by voice of another character saying the persons name.I believe Working Title could be a good contender to distribute my film because Working Title mainly focuses on British films, although they are now widening their focus to global films. However Columbia pictures could also be a distributor, purely because my film is similar to Snatch and Snatch was distributed by Columbia pictures, however because of the similarity it could also be a disadvantage for my film.Working Title has done some gangster films such as Smokin Aces, Smokin Aces 2 and State of play etc. Neil Powis

4. Film EvaluationFor example, the picture to the right is a 21 year old male, who is interested in films that can be related to real life conventions such as gangster and thugs.All about MoneyActivity 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?My audience for my project would be 18+ due to strong language and violent scenes etc. However I think my film would be more aimed between 18-35’s purely because at that age people may wonder what it may be like to have been a gangster instead of their everyday job. My audience would be interested in gangster films, fight scenes and plans to get rich and famous. My film would mostly be aimed at the male gender because the film would mostly be a male cast that can relate to real life gangsters. The film would be focused at working class people.My Target audience could relate to my film obviously through them being interested in gangster films and my film being in the gangster genre.My target audience would like other films such as Snatch, goodfellas and the godfather.My Target audience would not be interested in films such as ‘Sex in the city’ or ‘27 dresses’ because stereotypically they are films for females.Neil Powis

5. Film EvaluationAll about MoneyActivity 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?Check lower post’s for Task 5 video annotated.Check lower post’s for Task 5 video annotated.Neil Powis

6. Film EvaluationAll about MoneyActivity 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?I used the school’s camera to film my piece, this is a picture of me using the camera, although most the time I used a tripod. I have learnt many things about and through using the camera, for example, zooming in, keeping the camera steady and lighting etc. The camera is small and light so it allowed easy movement with the camera and is easy to get into positions to get the best camera angle you want for your project.Camera Wire to connect to the MacI used an Apple Mac to edit my film, I used a software called iMovie, I found the software fairly easy however did cause some stressful times at some points, in the end I was happy with my editing. On the Apple Mac’s I also used a program called Garage Band where you can create your own music, I did not like this program because it was filled with very limited sounds and I could not get what I wanted, however in the end I just added a repeating sound because I was getting frustrated with it, I think if anything is to drop my final grade down it would be Garage band/music on my final piece.On a normal computer I used a program called Photoshop for my still shots and added yellow text for the name of the characters, I found Photoshop difficult at first but after getting used to it I found it fairly easy and can’t wait to use it again.I wouldn’t recommend people to use iMovie to edit their film and I wouldn’t recommend people to make music on Garage Band but I would recommend people to use Photoshop to manipulate Photos.The Tripod made things a lot easier by keeping the shot steady and because the tripod can change size from small to very tall it gave me the advantage on the high shots in my project that I could not reach, the steadiness of the tripod allowed the shot to not look shaky because I couldn’t balance it.Neil Powis

7. Film EvaluationAll about MoneyActivity 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?Looking back at my Preliminary Task (film) I feel I have learnt a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill when it comes to filming, whether it be lighting in a scene, match on action, just a simple camera angle (shot/reverse shot) and not forgetting the 180 degree rule. I know from the experience I have had from my preliminary task I will go on to take the skills I have learnt into future projects.I believe my final piece is considerably a better piece than my preliminary task. In my preliminary task there was no planning, and back then I did not think to plan much stuff in any subject whereas now I believe it makes the process a lot easier if there is planning involved. In my preliminary the only focus were the match on action, the 180 degree rule and some close up shots, whereas in my final piece I use camera angles such as; point of view shots, high angle shots, low angle shots, Long shots, I experimented with zooming in and zooming out and panning etc. Which I believe all paid off.ConclusionOverall I was generally happy with my final piece, however I would change it drastically if I had the opportunity again. Next time I would make the plot more interesting and I'm sure my camera skills can only improve. I was happy with what I could do on Photoshop with my freeze frames because I had never used Photoshop before so to get anything from it is an achievement.Neil Powis