2. In what ways does your media product use/develop or challenge
form and conventions of a real media product.
When we started our media production there were things that we had to take into account to make
our film as believable and “movie like” as possible,
• Costume
• Sound
• Light
• Editing
• Technology effects
This list was the categories that we focused on to make sure that we produce the best and realistic
media product we could. And to keep the hole film in sync.
When looking at costume we have to look at the relevance of the costume and make sure that what
they are wearing goes with the genre of the film, We wanted to make sure that the audience could
differentiate the characters and the ranks of the character, this would help give the film a bit more
depth and realism. Using different style of clothing helps the audience understand the ranking
system and accompanying this with dominant camera angles also helps. Using the costume made
our genre more realistic and it added formality to the shots, also because of us wearing clothing we
could make sure that we looked like the stereotypical mafia with the suits and the big jackets for
the higher ranks and then using things like leather jackets and jeans for the lower ranks
3. Editing: We thought that using typical Sicilian music would help create
atmosphere, allowing the music to be non-diegetic because it added
continuity to the film. Using small talk meant that the films wasn’t ruined by
poor acting and it also showed how the differing ranks approach the Don and
how the don speaks to them this was important because it helped show the
audience the relationships between characters and ranks, the title sequence
ties in well with the music because it shows creates an old fashion and typical
mafia habits to the audience.
When using the lighting we had to use editing to change colors of the
title sequence to help the audience differentiate between the real life of
the mafia and the actual acting. By changing the color to black and
white it gave the audience a uncertainty of the charters faces and it
made it allowed them to feel the darkness and classic vibe that this
gang brings to a modern world. When moving for our actual shots we
made the scene slight disorientated and also drained some of the color
to continue that effect of a classic and official mafia.
Technology: Effects we only really used on creating
the companies look and image with a series of quick
shots of our company name and then giving it a
quick montage with a back sound of music gave it a
clean cut and professional finish. We did this
because we wanted to mimic other film companies
and give our product a bit more texture and
diversity.
4. How does your media production
represent particular social groups?
• Our film is based on a mafia and gangster life genre to find what
sort of social group we were representing we decided to look at
films like the Godfather, Scarface and Lock Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels because we wanted to make a film that appealed to the
British public. We have used the representations from these films
such as dress and talk to merge and make our film conventional.
• To set the tone for our film our main character Vinnie Corbisiero to
look likes a typical mafia gangster. We wanted him to wear a suit
because it shows how formal it is for a man of his rankings to meet
a Don. So when meeting the don we wanted to create and
atmosphere that the Don is the almighty when our Doorman hears
Vinnie call him the “Boss” we no that that is wrong by the
doorman’s response to correct them this also helps to create a
sketchy and unfriendly environment for the new comer Vinnie
5. • When Vinnie sees the Don we make it seen that there is no
trust between the Doorman and Vinnie this is due to the
status that the don has. But from our research we learn
that the Don is a friendly charter to clients so when the Don
now of his wear about we have him great him in a friendly
ton. We chose to keep the speech simple and edgy this
applies more suspense to the meeting and create a anxious
environment.
• In our title sequence we decide to give the audience a
background check to show the scale of just how powerful
the don really is. We stat the previous history of the
families and how it transferred to come to England create a
new social group for the mafia based films to target.
Showing the typical events that you would expect from the
Mafia familiarizes the audience and sets them for the film.
6. The ways in which we have used to represent our production we have targeted a particular social groups using
different accepts of our film such as costume setting, speech and technology elements.
• Using costume we wanted to use the stereotypical dress for the
Don and his workers so we have used braces and nice suits this
adds to the swaga and coolheaded nature of the Don. But for our
title sequence we have clearly distinguished between the classes
and ranks between by the dealer wearing different clothing styles
to the don. The leather jacket shows that he is a buyer or a street
worker because of the unclassyness of his dress.
• Speech we have added small talk but with a friendly tone because it
shows the sketchy vibe but it also represents that the don is friendly
and welcoming, we got this idea from the godfather because the
Don is distinctly open to his clients but the talks between them is
small. The Doorman and the Soldier when they first meet we show
this as uneasy by having the Soldier come in as arrogant and this
shows when he calls the Don “Boss” this showed his ignorance
towards the don.
7. • Using the seething we decided to use a big great gate that looks
sophisticated and posh like a typical mafia leaders house. The Dons
office its self is grand in its acutechure and its space. Using a big
wooden desk shows that he has a purpose and presence and the
laptops define his class and riches. Using the parallel camera angles
shows that his work is grand and that he means business and him
looking out the big window could imply that he is looking out into
his world of England, which he now runs as the biggest mafia
family.
• Using black and white simple texts allows the readers to digest the
history better it also shows that the mafia are a simple and direct
organisation in both purpose and power. Then we decided to dim
the lighting for the actual film because it adds a dim and
gloominess and a classic feel to the scenes. Using an old style
Sicilian music create the old and traditional environment and allows
the title sequence to play and flow nicely
8. What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product?
• Looking at different media productions I would like to think hat our movie would be a film that
would generate different revenue streams such as games, posters and books. Looking at big name
production companies I would look at Warner Bros and Paramount because they have both done
gangster films before this would mean that have a good knowledge of target market and when to
relies and what audience rating it should be delivered at.
• However because this film is based and has English actors it think that it would have a greater
appeal to the British audience. Film producers like Film 4 would be perfect because of their high
status in England and that they would suit the marketing regimes for my film.
• Looking at my film and the history of most gangster films their age rating would be an 18 this is
because of the violence shown and other gangster activities. So taking this in I think that it should
be an 18 to show the audience what people have to do to rise in the ranks in the mafia and get a
true picture of the disregard for human rights in some killings so having a Film 4 would be the best
to show the real grit of the Mafia.
9. Who is the audience of your media product?
Our audience that we would expect to see would be some
one like this. His name is Sam Williams and is aged 23 he
lives in London Victoria; he is an accountant for HSBC. He
lives with 4 other roommates and they like to watch films
and play recreational games in his free time. He is also in to
looking smart and looking the part in terms of his works
and always wears a suit and tie on work days. He has a fairly
casual personality but gets things done on time. He has
recently watched films like Inception, The tourist and the
Green lantern. He has also watch all the Godfather films and
has a keen interest in organized crime history. He likes to
watch TV channels like National geographic, BBC
/2/3/4, Channel 4 and Sky movies Drama and Action. He
likes to listen to original music that is different and unique
(not Dub step and chats music) Sam would fit into our
demographic because of his interest in organized crime and
his passion for watching dramas, document style films and
action-based films. Also because it has the ability to
understand finance and loans and contracts our crime film
will be perfect for his tastes.
10. How did I attract/address my
audience?
• The godfather logo hints what the film is about because of the handle directing what the Don
wants the soldiers to do
• The film cover shows the Don face, this shows his class and “swaga” as he is dressed formally.
• We have used different characters and a different range of action in the plot of our film that
it would attract people to come and watch it. Using things like front covers and making them
appeal to our target market would mean that making it look like a sophisticated cover allows
our age rating to get a grip of what the film has to offer.
The back cover hints what we
can expect (action, love and The film cover shows the
drama) but in all the pictures
it shows the stereotypical
Don face, this shows his
dress of the Mafia class and “swaga” as he
is dressed formally.
11. • I would look at my film cover to be something like this
using different lighting and colors to show the
traditional mafia and I would want to keep it
reasonably simple and try to show the soldier maybe
looking up at the don and stairs hinting to the audience
the plot of the film.
• Using a trailer I would show the typical mafia activities
that you would expect but introduce to the audience
the plot of out film and the rise of the soldier. This I
feel would draw our audience in because it would
show the originality and the pass of the film as a semi
fast action/drama. I would want the trailers to appear
on boy based channels like after Football or a
documentary channel like Channel 4 or National
Geographic
•
12. What have you learnt about technologies form the
process of constructing this product?
Clicking text allowed me to make my title the
• Sony Vegas contract all I had to do was format it and size it
accordingly
We used Sony Vegas to
do our editing such as:
• To make text
• To add a grain effect
• to contrast colors
• to dim the light in our
scenes
• added music
• Clicking text allowed me
to make my title the
contract all I had to do
was format it and size it
accordingly
• made a production
sequence
13. Using this text means that
it doesn’t have a black
background and you can
put it over your shots to
create a form of credits
Using a different transition I can
have different affects of fading with
my text like in the first square I
could fade it out with the shot
where as on the second square I
can just fade the words out
14. Blogger – allowed me to organise my pre-
production work
Youtube – We could access music and look for
existing film openings.
Powerpoint – I used this to organise and present
some of my work.
IMDB is a huge
database of movie info.
15. What do you feel you have learnt in the progression
from preliminary task to full product?
• I feel I have come a long way scene I have done my media product, I
now show a better knowledge in editing and use of camera angles
to show class and status amongst the characters. I used my new
found skill to create the mood and really eliminate the scene of
modernization by adding classy Sicilian music and changing the tone
of the picture to black and white and then adding a grain over my
shots to further more create that image of a classic mafia. Also the
use of shots and how to create a more meaningful and emotional
attractive product in really used camera angles to highlight the
ranks in my film between the Don and the Soldiers.
• I in this task was a lot more organized and I have a better vision and
a much wider knowledge on how to depict it on to the film piece so
it was pretty successful.
