As media studies movie critical reflection

1. CRITICAL REFLECTION

2. My media product which is a movie opening sequence uses the
conventions , the movie opening provides you with an instant hint
about the genre of the movie. My product also gives a hint that it
is an crime thriller movie opening sequence. The movies from
which I took inspiration for my product are some of the very
famous crime thriller movies like ; The Fugitive (1993) starring
Harrison Ford in the lead role, is Directed by Andrew Davis and
was adapted by a TV show. Wrongfully accused of murdering his
wife, Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) escapes from the law in an
attempt to find her killer and clear his name. The movie has a
sequel called U.S Marshalls.
HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OR CHALLENGE
CONVENTIONS, AND HOW DOES IT REPRESENT SOCIAL
GROUPS OR ISSUES?

3. Another movie is The Godfather (1972) starring Marlon Brando
and AL Pacino. Widely regarded as one of the greatest films of
all time, this mob drama, based on Mario Puzo's novel of the
same name, focuses on the powerful Italian-American crime
family of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). When the don's
youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino), reluctantly joins the Mafia, he
becomes involved in the inevitable cycle of violence and betrayal.
Although Michael tries to maintain a normal relationship with his
wife, Kay (Diane Keaton), he is drawn deeper into the family
business. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

4. Camera angles : Many of my shots were similar to the typical
crime thriller movies. Like this medium close up shot which is
commonly used in crime thriller movies.

5. Majority of the shots I used are the conventional shots which are
used in the
Crime thriller movies.
These include the high angle , medium close up , close up and
extreme close up shots.
I also took shots with the subject’s back at the camera to increase
curiosity.

6. The sounds in the clip are non- diegetic sounds. There are two
sound clips which I used as background music. Both of them are
conventional crime thriller music. I used them to give a hint of
the event going to happen and gain the audience attention and
make them curious.
Also the engine starting, the thud of the car hitting the guy and
the car moving sound are also non- diegetic.
SOUND

7. The mise en scene in the video is also conventional, there is low
key lighting and there is reference to alcohol which represents
the high class of the society. The people have their own car which
also represents the high society.
MIS’E EN SCÈNE AND EDITING

8. My product is made for the masses and because of that it may be
distributed by the warner bros. like “The fugitive” and “The dark
knight”. Or by the paramount pictures like “The godfather”.
My film won’t be distributed by Disney because it is not suitable for
kids and may have a mature rating due to fire arms and alcohol
reference.
My product is for the masses because it does not target any special
niche although it is not for children but it will still be considered to be a
production for masses.
It doesn’t discriminate any race , gender or ethnicity. Its targeted
audience would be people more than 18 years of age and older
audience can also enjoy it if they have a taste of thrillers.
HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH
AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT BE
DISTRIBUTED AS AN END MEDIA TEXT?

9. It is a crime thriller which will slowly make you very curious, the
sudden anti climax will leave the audience hanging and they would
Have to watch the movie till the very end. The movie keeps you
interested by further building up curiosity. And will get you to
bite your nails.

10. The opening sequence which I created represents teenagers, who are
involved in some seriously dangerous affairs. Drunk with the power
they have, they are not the people anybody would want to mess with.
This is the representation of the social group which is of the rich and
powerful and which are involved in some dangerous and violent affairs.
The opening shows a teenager who gets a call, talking to his
acquaintance he doesn’t waste words. In front of him on the table lies a
pistol and a can of alcohol from which he drinks. The home of the
person in the video is well furnished and signifies that he belongs to the
upper class.
The other guy who also leaves home drinking from the same type of
can, and drives to the other persons home to pick him up.
HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA REPRESENT
PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

11. This guy leaves his home carelessly and drives a shiny new car which
shows that he also belongs to the upper class. Both of the teenagers
then leave in the car driving the car at a high speed while they are
drunk. This also shows that they have no fear of law or what so ever.
The third person who is hit by the car is dressed shabbily which
represents that he was not from the upper class. But was rather from
lower class.

12. Well my production skills improved immensely, before I took up this
course I did not have any real training or information on how to
operate a manual camera. I didn’t know what camera angles were, and I
had no clue about the mise-en-scene either.
In my product I have used a combination of mid shots, wide shots ,
close ups and extreme wide shots. Also I have used quick cuts so that a
scene would not be dragged, I used the mid shots and wide shots to
focus on the subject as well as to show the detail of the background (
mise-en-scene ). I used the extreme wide shots to show the location,
and the close ups to show the emotional details like astonishment and
fear of the characters.
HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION
SKILLS DEVELOP THROUGH OUT
THE PROJECT?

13. I chose the genre crime thriller because it was different, and has always
struck me. I find crime thrillers amusing, I tried to make my production
as catchy and thrilling as possible by the quick cuts, the sound effects
and the setting. I also worked on the mise-en-scene. In order to make
my movie opening better I watched a lot of crime thriller movies and
got inspired by some which are the fugitive, the dark knight and the
Godfather

14. The editing software I used is Videopad , it is an easy and user friendly
video editing software. I learned a lot from this course like how to
operate a manual camera, how to shoot videos and how to edit them. I
learned to edit the videos and change the sound of the videos, all the
sounds which I used in this clip are non diegetic. And were edited by
me on the video.

15. The technologies which were used in this project were a professional
camera Canon Dslr 60D, a tripod and a laptop. The camera was used to
shoot the clip and the tripod was used to keep the camera steady at
some difficult executions. Like this one
HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES
IN THIS PROJECT?

16. The settings of ios , aperture and shutter speed were done manually by
me , the ios was increased because the shooting had to be done in the
dark. And the shutter speed was increased too because moving objects
were to be shot.
The tripod was used in the initial shot to keep
it stable as you can see me shooting here

17. The software which I used to edit this clip was video pad , it is a very
user friendly software and I was able to edit my product very easily
although it was time consuming, but it was very much fun too.