SassProductions - Grow Old With Me Evaluation

Evaluation Prezi

Grow Old With Me... Evaluation Prezi

Grow Old With Me... Evaluation

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

Our media product obeys the classical conventions of the romance genre as it uses the stereotypical attributes of a romantic film. We knew that because we were doing a romantic genre we needed to hint at romance genre through either the mise-en-scene or the actual performance. We decided to show this through both because we had their photo's of their life in stages, the mise-en-scene would either be wedding, homely or romantic. We also hinted on the sad moments as faint sirens are heard. We did this because we knew it would add suspicion or tension.

Before planning our film opening we looked to specific films for inspiration, films such as Ps I Love You, The Notebook and Up. Although Up is a Pixar animation we used it an as inspiration for our opening, this was once we knew we wanted to do a picture/video montage. The picture/video montage was something that we wanted to do after we had changed our mind due to the plot changing, after watching the Up opening we had a clearer idea on how we wanted to portray our film opening. We looked at Ps I Love You for inspiration of the couple we wanted and how we could portray their love. We also looked at The Notebook for inspiration of the medical condition as it was like his wife was already dead... this then lead up to their actual deaths.
We killed off one of the main characters before the opening titles were over, this showed a sad and tearful moment. (when the sirens were used to portray the accident).

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I believe our film hits two main stereotypes, the first is the stereotype is the usual conventions of marriage. You fall in love and then get married no in between no problems or actual difficulties just love. Then they move on to go on holiday and carry on having an amazing time in love with each other... Then they have their first child and we see through a photo/video montage of this child growing up and shaping into a beautiful child. Then breaking out of the stereotype we dramatically killed the mother and her second unborn child. This doesn't just break the stereotype, it makes our audience realise how precious life is and how easy it can be taken away. It reinforces how vulnerable we are. The second stereotype is of growing up, little milestones in the child’s life that we see. We see a happy child with a loving family, yet we know nothing of his personality. However we already know that when children grow up they stereo-typically want to become heroes such as; an action man, a soldier, a racing driver and for girls a princess or a mermaid. But our character was maybe forced to grow up quicker than his peers due to facing such a tough loss at a young age. He has had time to think which inspires him as a character to become a fireman to save a mommy like he couldn't save his own.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As a group we began research into different romantic films and the companies who distributed them. We found a pattern of successful romance films being distributed by Momentum Pictures. With big romance films out, such as: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; P.S. I Love You; Safe Haven; and How I Live now. We decoded Momentum Pictures would be the most suitable distributor for our media product. Momentum Pictures is one of the leading motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and releases approximately 20 films a year. Momentum was founded in London, England in 1996. We also decided we would like our film to be distributed to the big cinemas Such as Cineworld and Showcase.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

For our film opening we decided to aim towards love struck teenagers because they want a fairy-tale life of love and happiness where this gives off the impression but then also strikes with the reality of truly loving and losing someone. We also aimed for adults as they are aware of the reality of life, they understand what true love is and some can relate to losing someone they love. We decided to make the certificate 12+ giving us a wider range of audience. We also found that we would aim this more towards women than men because of it being a soppy love story with a slight twist. Men would watch this but we think that women would be more intrigued.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We think that the name of the film being posed as a statement as well as question is intriguing to the audience, it also shows an sad irony to portray that the main character won’t actually be able to grow old at all due to her life being cut short by a tragic fire. With the audience being mixed we picked a very young cast, filled with the best looking people that we could find, we went on finding people with the perfect connection to our characters. Not only did we use casting to draw in the attention of the audience, we have made the opening very fast paced and has all of the elements of a romance genre. With the whole idea of the film being very much so like the ones that are already in the markets we think that would help towards the audiences being interested already.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

As the majority of our film has included using a green scene it was extremely important for us to understand exactly how it worked. This meant learning a completely new skill for us all, both in the production and post-production aspects of our film making. Although putting together the screen was fairly self-explanatory, there was still something to learn. Within the post-production it was important for us, particularly the editor, to understand exactly how the green scene was going to be incorporated into our final edit. Alongside the green screen, IMovie was our most important tool. This was the application we used and make everything we added or took away from our footage, easier and more professional. Although as with any technology, we had a few glitches along the way. Along with the new IMovie program came new problems and so it took us a while to adjust to the changes. Another problem that came up during our editing process was that all our footage was saved to only one Mac and was therefore near impossible to retrieve from another Mac; however we had some technological help and were therefore able to find a way of getting all our footage somewhere we could work with after hours of transferring it. From this we learnt that before starting our editing process we should be thinking ahead throughout the whole process to get rid of any glitches in our time plans.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

When I completed my preliminary task I worked with a group of my peers, this meant that I never got to fully explore all of the roles as we all had a separate role each. I was in charge of the camera/filming/taking photos, although I already had a little bit of experience in editing and filming since doing the preliminary task I feel that I have learnt a lot more about them in which ways to edit correctly and the correct camera shots to use. When we began our main piece I was again in charge of the camera because I felt comfortable after having guidance from members of staff and other peers. Working in a 4 piece group benefited me well because I had more confidence and we all got on well, watching my preliminary task back I can see that I have benefited and improved a lot since then.

Grow Old With Me...

Character profiles

Flynn Forest - Husband to Amelia and father to Charlie, Flynn is a 26 year old Paediatrician from Pattingham.

Amelia Forester - Wife to Flynn and mother to Charlie, Amelia is a 26 year old primary school teacher, working at Parkfield Elementary.

Charlie Forester - Child of Flynn and Amelia, Charlie is a 4 year old bright and confident primary school pupil at Parkfield Elementary.

Sarah Greene - School teacher to Charlie, and best friend of Amelia, Sarah is a close family friend and a honorary member of the Forester family.

Film titles

We decided to make sure our titles are all consistent throughout of film opening. We decided to only add 'SassProductions' and the cast names into the opening so that it looks consistent and realistic. We found this idea from previously watching professional film openings and seeing how others have best shown their opening titles.

Casting

As a part of our casting choices we started to collect images of those portraying our characters to give a real sense of the characters and their personal attributes.

We decided not to have casting auditions as such as we already had a clear idea of exactly who we wanted to star in our film opening. 

Shooting Script

To add to our storyboard and scripts we created a shooting script to enable us to film our scenes efficiently and give us an idea of exactly who the scene will go before we begin filming.

Although we did make shooting scripts, the majority of our film revolves around pictures and short video clips we didn't need a real script, we just had a basic idea of how the video clips would pan out.

Storyboard

Before shooting our film opening we created a storyboard to remind us of the sequence each picture of video clip will go in. In our storyboard we made sure we added every picture or clip we wanted to add to our film opening and we were therefore be able to create the film opening we wanted before starting to edit. This enabled us to edit more efficiently and get our ideal finished project.

Soundtrack

As we're yet to decide whether to use a voice over or music or both within our opening sequence we've decided to create our own music in order to avoid any copyright issues. For doing so we have looked and listened to a few soundtracks from others and tried to put our own spin on them.

For our voice over we are creating a short speech for our film's Protagonist, Charlie, to say as the montage is going on. For this we are trying to make a speech suitable for his character to present to his class as is later reveled at the end of our opening sequence.

We finally decided that it would be best to have a soundtrack instead of a voice over, allowing us to focus on the pictures and video clips in our film opening. As a team we worked on the GarageBand app to create two songs to add to our soundtrack. We decided to create the songs ourselves instead of using other music because of copyright issues.

The two tracks we have created serve different purposes, one to continue through our film opening and the other is for the black out scene as this is a sad and emotive scene, needing powerful an d emotional music.

Film Opening Plot Summary

The film opens with a montage of both pictures and home videos of Flynn and Amelia's life as a couple. The opening is presented in the style of a scrapbook; within this we see the important and memorable events that take place throughout their life; for example, their first date, their wedding day, their honeymoon, Christmas morning, the birth of their first child, Charlie and a second unexpected pregnancy. However, this tranquility was disturbed by a tragic accidental house fire, tearing their family apart forever. The sequence then skips 5 years, where we find out that this montage has all been leading up to Charlie, Flynn and Amelia's son (aged 9), explaining his career aspirations to be a fireman and save lives.

Kickstarter

So I decided to look at Kickstarter as way of making films and other creative projects. I chose this website as I had seen and donated to a film made with productions assisted by Kickstarter.

The film I have seen before is called 'Immediate Afterlife' starring two of the main characters from an American teen drama called 'Pretty Little Liars'. This short film was a Hazart project and was able to get just over their goal of $50,000 by just 430 backers.

Immediate Afterlife

SassProductions 'Grown Old With Me...' Film Synposis

The film will open with pictures of Flynn and Amelia's life in a scrap book. It will illustrate important parts of their lives, including milestones of Charlie Forester's life.

After the opening the film will begin with the news report to say Amelia and her unborn child had died. Charlie grows up as 5 years pass with only a father to raise him. Charlie is in class explaining why he wants to be a fireman.

An unexpected romance occurs between Flynn and Sarah (Charlie's teacher). A double news situation... Charlie's partner is pregnant and his father is getting married. Charlie begins his fireman training but its put on hold because his wife's babies are due. Twins called Ella-Swan and Joshua-James. Begins fireman training again.

Charlie gets qualified as a fireman and proposes but a call comes in to say a pregnant woman and child are stuck in a house fire. Accomplishes his life long dream and saves the mother and child but has a major flashback and sees himself as a small child, tells his fireman friend to get the child and says "I will get HER!" The pregnant lady reminds him of his mom. Gets her out and sees the ghost of his mom stood in the doorway smiling. (same house he had his past fire in).

Setting / Location

As our film opening is based predominantly on pictures of the protagonists past we will be using a green screen to enable us to recreate these moments. Other than this we will be using a bench outside of school setting; a school classroom setting and a new report setting. As our film opening is based around pictures and short videos it is paramount that we get the perfect settings which truly represent our film genre and the ideas we have in mind.

Film Synopsis/Plot Timeline

Props

As we didn't need many props our main prop was our green screen. We used this prop for all bar the first clip of our opening. Other than this we used props such as a bench outside school, tables and chairs, champagne flutes, petals as confetti, fake pregnancy belly, pregnancy test, paper, pens, laptops and mugs for our news report scene and a classroom, teachers desk, chair, stage at the front of the class and a white board.

Costume Ideas

Miss Whitehouse as Amelia Forester - Mother and Wife - 7 Different Costumes
1st costume - School clothes/uniform
2nd costume - Wedding dress/white dress
3rd costume - Beach wear (shorts, skirt, dress, flipflops)
4th costume - Holiday clothes (skirt, dress)
5th costume - T-shirt and jeans
6th costume - Pyjamas
7th costume - Home wear/dress?

Mr Sidaway as Flynn Forester - Husband and Father - 7 Different Costumes
1st costume - School clothes/uniform
2nd costume - Wedding suit
3rd costume - Beach wear (shorts, tank top)
4th costume - Holiday clothes (shirt and trousers/jeans and top)
5th costume - T-shirt and jeans
6th costume - Pyjamas
7th costume - Home wear (joggers/jeans)

Ms Cattell as Miss Sarah Greene - Teacher - 1 Costume
Grey Dress for school

Cody Powis&Noah Brady as Charlie Forester - Son and future fireman - 3 Costumes
1st costume - Baby grow/sleep suit
2nd costume - Nappy
3rd costume - School uniform

Miss Lynch  as Emma Holmes - News Reporter - 1 Costume
Smart, girly wear.

Mr Bull - Steven Stevenson - News Reporter - 1 Costume
Smart, Shirt and tie.

Cast and Crew

CREW!

SassProductions

Elizabeth Salisbury - Director
Sophie Mincher - Editor
Cheyenne Weaver - Script Commissioner
Courtney Musgrove - Camera Woman

CAST!

Mr Sidaway - Flynn Forester 
Miss Whitehouse - Amelia Forester
Cody Powis / Noah Brady - Charlie Forester
Ms Cattell - Sarah Greene
Mr McDowall - Sam Fitzgerald
Miss Brown - Jenna Gilmore
Miss Lynch - Emma Holmes
Mr Bull - Steven Stevenson

These are the people that we have selected to be in our film opening "Grow Old With Me..." They were all asked and have agreed to partaking in our film and playing the characters we've cast them to be. They have also been informed of the scenes they will be in and their lines / costume choices for each scene.

Our roles within the SassProduction group

We are currently in the process of starting our planning for our As Media film opening. My peers and I have made our own group called ‘SassProductions’. We are a group made up of 4 girls in our media class… Sophie, Cheyenne, Courtney and myself.

We are making a film called ‘Grow old with me…” It is going to be a romance which will begin with a series of pictures from the scrap book to fill in the beginning of a tragic love story.

We have split our group up so that we each have our own separate roles;

> Sophie will be in charge of Editing

>Courtney will be in the camera woman

>Cheyenne will be the script commissioner and prop designer

> I will be the director

As a group we will all be putting forward our own things and ideas and then take them on board so that we can all make the best that we can. We decided as a group that we will all have a joint input.

At the moment we’re all working on small tasks to complete all our research and planning before starting the filming process. At the moment I am working on our overall film synopsis and plot line.