Evaluation - By Josh Nutt

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

Our film is in the style of mafia. After looking at a similar film in 'Reservoir Dogs' i realised that a similar convention in mafia films is suits. We incorporated this into our film, as it is a generic thing to include in mafia films. As you can see from the picture below, the 4 poker players wore quite stylish costumes which was good as it resembled 'Reservoir Dogs' which is a similar mafia film. One thing i noticed when analysing 'Reservoir Dogs' was that the majority of the characters wore smart clothing, yet were slightly informal about it, having they're top buttons undone and having they're shirt untucked. This was integrated into our film as you can see from the picture below.

As you can see from the picture above, with regards to costumes;

• Walt Dixon (far left), is wearing a smart costume, yet he has his top button undone
• Leo Ramone (second from left), again is wearing something smart, but has his top button undone
• Joe Messina (second from right) is wearing smart uniform, but has his shirt slightly untucked and top button undone.
• William King (far right) is the only smart one who has his top button done up and his shirt tucked in.

Another similar convention that is used in mafia films is poker/gambling scenes. Our first scene, was a gambling scene in which Leo Ramone ended up dying from a poisoned drink. We changed a particular convention of the gambling by having someone

2. How does your media product represent social groups?

In our film, male dominance is a real presence. Yet it is a female that deals the fatal blow, along with the help of a few males. This is compared to Reservoir Dogs where no women are involved and it is entirely male, yet in Omerta, there is the character 'Miele' who is the strong female.

Two characters that I think our similar within the films; Reservoir Dogs and Omerta.

I believe that these two characters are the same, as they both represent lies and deceit. In Reservoir Dogs, Mr Orange is the undercover cop, that ends up betraying all others who are taking part in the jewelry store robbery. This is linked to the character of Luciana Messina who betrays her family to spare her own life, because of the death of Marco Ramone's father. Also, both have disguised names in 'Miele' and 'Mr Orange'. The difference between them is that Mr Orange is being deceitful to try and expose criminals, where as 'Miele' is doing it to spare her life.

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

As previously posted, in one of our blogs, i discussed the possibility of which Institutions may be interested in distributing our film.

• Warner Bros.
• Paramount
• 20th Century Fox
• Universal
• Columbia

Since i analysed the film Reservoir Dogs, which was distributed Universal, i would like Universal to distribute Omerta. Our film would be released in the cinema, this way it can catch be viewed in the best possible quality and be a good experience for those watching it.

I can't see our film offering a lot of oppurtunities, yet it would have the obvious merchandise of posters. Also, a soundtrack to our film would be available to buy on CD.

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

The audience for our media product would be targeted at the male generation. We would be hoping to catch the eye of the younger generation of 16-21, yet it may also appeal to older age ranges from 21-50. I believe that the poker scene in the first 2 minutes would provide a bigger appeal as this is where people would work out that this is a mafia film. Our narrative is non-linear so it may require the older generation to be able to follow it.

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5. How did you attract/address your audience?

In both of our scenes, the audience is being put into the position of witnessing the entire thing, of something that nobody else would see. This gives the audience a sense of knowing what's going on, when in fact, nobody apart from who was there, knew what was being said. The setting for both scenes, show that it is dingy and that nobody would think to look for the mafia there, and it acts as a stage-house. This adds suspension to the actual scene, as it seems secretive.

These our screenshots from our actual film.

Our first shot establishes the poker scene, this would appeal to the target audience of those interested in mafia films, as it is a popular convention. It establishes all the character in the scene.

The second shot, is from the point of view Walt Dixon who was sat at the table at the time. This gives the audience the impression that they are there and can see what is going on, adding to suspension.

The third shot, is almost a point of view shot but not quite, this shot is to establish Joe Messina who is talking at the time. It also establishes that Leo Ramone has died on the table.

The fourth shot, gives the audience the impression that they are there watching the entire thing. The location of character on the screen, symbolises power. Luciano Messina is the tallest in the shot as he is the strongest. Second, is Alessandro Messina, the Don, but not as powerful. And then Joe Messina, who is lower than the Don.

The fifth shot, is an over the shoulder shot of Don Messina, establishing Joe Messina. Again, the more powerful of the characters takes up the most room on the shot.

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

With equipment, we used a HDV1000 camera. This was a major strength for our film, because it made our film look more professional and was better quality. We also used a high quality

tripod which was better for us as it allowed more control over the big camera. One weakness about this camera is that the sound quality was a bit low, as if we were filming a shot which was far away, the sound quality would be low, because the microphone is attached to the actual camera.

When it came to filming, everything went smoothly apart from a few things. In one of the close ups of the poker players, we left the tripod in shot, so we had to crop it so that it was not there. Yet it still looks good, so it wasn't a major problem. Another minor problem was that h

alfway through a particular shot we realised that somebody was wearing bright green headphones around there neck. But thankfully, we realised this and was able to re-film this shot, so again not a major problem.

The HDV camera was something that we had never used before, and also final cut express, both of these helped us make the film look a lot better and more professional.

The editing software we used was final cut express, some particular effects that we used thanks to final cut express. This helped us when it came to editing, as we were able to crop certain shots, and make them look better for the final film. We were also able to do freeze frames and add text to certain shots to establish who the character was.

We did not use garageband, however we did use 'Fruitloops' to make the music on the first scene as mise en scene. We used copyright free music on the second scene.

7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you

have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at the preliminary task, our research into Mafia films was gambling and guns. We decided to scrap the convention of guns but keep the gambling. To keep the guns would have been hard and may have degraded the film. When it came to planning the shot list, we planned and shooted a lot more shots, yet 2 minutes was not long enough to incorporated all these shots in. When filming, we had the script and the shot-list taped to the wall, out of shot. This helped us when filming as we could refer to it whenever we were troubled.

These our shots from our original preliminary task. As you can see in our preliminary task, there is a lot shot-reverse-shot as it was just a normal conversation. It's harder to incorporate these shots into an actual film, yet we had a good go.

From our audience feedback, we received the following comments;

• 'Liked the music within the film'
• 'Liked the props used, such as the poker chips'
• 'The setting complimented the film'
• 'The costumes were also good'
• 'All the above, fit the genre perfectly'

Here is the videos of our audience feedback;

I feel that overall, on our entire project, all of our group are happy with what we produced and are looking forward to next year. We feel we will progress even more next year and already have come up with ideas for a five minute film.

Evaluation - By Connor Asquith

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
Our film is a Mafia style film and follows the conventions set by most mafia films, after looking at the film Pulp Fiction the first convention i noticed is the way in which the mafia gang members dress. They always dress in smart suits, even when going out on a 'Hit' this is also the same in our film as in the poker scene all the poker players are smartly dressed even though Joe Messina, William King and Walt Dixon are only there to take care of Leo Ramone. The films that influenced the way our characters dressed in our film, along side 'Pulp Fiction' was 'Reservior Dogs' 'Godfather' and 'Goodfellas' as all the gang members in these films dressed in smart, high end suits, which showed the gang they were in was a very rich powerful gang, and this is what we wanted to portray in our film.

Another way in which our film is conventional is that the Don of the mafia will always send out his lower level gang members to deal with his competition, and his more close personal friend or family within the Mafia if the job is of great importance. In Pulp Fiction, 'Mr Marsellus Wallace' sends out his two best men 'Jules Winnfield' and 'Vincent Vega' to get a suitcase that belongs to him, and also to make a point by killing the men who stole it, to show that he is not the one to be messed with. Similarly in our film 'Alexandro Messina' sends out his little brother and sister, 'Joe and Luciana Messina' to deal with the important matter of taking care of 'Leo Ramone'.
However our film slightly challenges the conventional the Mafia in other films take care of their problems. In 'Pulp Fiction' the 'Jules and Vincent' take care of the problem by both of the men firing a full clip of a pistol into the men. Where as in our film 'Leo Ramone' is poisoned quickly and quietly which doesn't occur often in a Mafia style film.
Like many other Mafia films, our film 'Omerta' also has sub genres besides just being a Mafia / Gangster film, Action, Thriller and Crime, because if we were to film the entire film there would be a lot tense, action filled moments.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our film men are the most dominant and powerful like the majority of the mafia films. This is shown by the Mafia gangs are completely made up of men, but in our film and in 'Pulp Fiction' there is a powerful women character within the story. In 'Pulp Fiction' the women is the wife of a powerful Don 'Mr Marsellus Wallace' called 'Mia Wallace' as she has quite a bit of power thanks to her husband. As we find out in the beginning of the film, the last man who touched her got thrown out of a window. Which shows that her husband is very protective of his wife, so 'Mia Wallace' has a lot of sway over the Don as he will do anything for her, and can twist him to her way of thinking. Similar in our film 'Luciana Messina' is also a very powerful character as she is the sister of a very powerful and feared Don, and with a click of her finger could get 'Alexandro Messina' to get rid of someone bothering her. So in both films the typical stereotype is being broken as there are two powerful female characters.
However it follows the stereotype of men doing all the dirty work, like taking care of competition and making the money, and the women of the mafia just do as they are told, and use the money made by the mafia, for example in 'Pulp Fiction' 'Mia Wallace' goes out to an expensive diner and orders a '5 buck Milkshake' which was a lot of money for just a milkshake as you can gauge by the reaction of 'Vincent Vega' when she orders it. But again our film slightly breaks this stereotype with 'Luciana' as she also handles some of the dirty work, like helping out her older brother 'Joe Messina' take care of a rival Don 'Leo Ramone'.

I believe our film is more for the male population, mainly because the men appear more powerful in our film, and because of this there will be far more action scenes within the film, however with the added character of 'Luciana' I believe that this will also attract a female audience as well.

Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction) and Joe Messina (Omerta)

In the first scene we see Jules has no remorse as he violently shoots and kills three men without even a blink. He is very similar to our character Joe Messina as Joe has done many killings in his past, but in our opening scene we see him poison Leo Ramone, and by the look on his face you can tell he enjoys doing what he is doing. They are both very loyal and do what they are told by the Don, even if they don't totally agree.
The two characters also dress quite similar as they both wear suit and tie, even when going out on a job. This shows they are both very powerful characters, and have become quite wealthy in the process.

What type of media Institute might distribute your media project and why?
I believe our film would be produced by a major Hollywood studio like Paramount because they have done similar films, like 'The Godfather' for example, and I think with the story line in place it would need a high budget to be able to make the film as good as it can be.

I believe there could be franchises/merchandise made out of our film because it being similar to 'The Godfather'. Mainly because 'The Godfather' has had so much merchandise made from its film for example the games it makes or the little collectable figures.

Who would be the audience for your media project?
Our film is more targeted to male population from the ages 18 and up who like their Mafia / Action / Thriller films, mainly because there will be a lot of violence and swearing within the film, which may disturbed younger viewers. Also there may be a quite a few female viewers because there is a powerful women in the film and also the love interest between Marco Ramone and Marlyin Johnson.

This is based upon our questionnaire results showing that majority of people who would see are film are over the age of 18, male and like other mafia films such as 'The Godfather' but there was also quite a few females who would also like to see the film.
We gave the film an 18 because of all the violence, swearing, criminal activities and drugs that appear in the opening and the rest of the film if we were to film it all.
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We showed a preview of the film to a few people that fit our target audience and recorded there responses on what they thought was good about the film. They said they liked the Music, props and costumes as they suited the genre, and overall said it ran smoothly and would pay to see the whole film.

How did you attract / address your audience?

The way we attracted our audience in my opinion is that we tried to keep it similar to the style of film we were aiming for, so with the costumes and the two rival family's, but we also tried to add in bits of our own like the subtle killing of 'Leo Ramone' over the over the top torturing in other Mafia style films.

In both of our opening scenes the audience is put in many different positions, and characters points of view. In the first scene we put the audience in an over the shoulder shot of everyone around the poker table to establish who is there. Then cuts to a long shot to show where each character is sat.

Further on into the scene we put the audience within 'Walt Dixons' point of view when 'Leo Ramone' drinks the poisoned drink that was served to him by 'Luciana Messina'. This is an important shot as the character the audience is asked to put their feet into actually would have become the hero at the end if we were to film the entire thing.

What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing the product?
We had to chance to film with a Sony HDV 1000 camera which was great mainly because it is a professional camera and it was nice to use it over a little camcorder. I believe the quality we got from the camera was really good but the sound we got from it was a little too quiet, we attempted to use a zoom recorder but we didn't manage to get a good recording of the sound from that either.

Overall the filming process went really well, except for one or two bad camera framing, and there was a shot where we left the tripod in the background and didn't realise till we were editing the film, but that was easily sorted out in Final Cut Express. Another problem we over came was for the poker scene we only had a table top, so before we filmed we built up a stand made out of bricks found within our location, which was very lucky because without that table there would have been no second scene. We did not use Garage Band, but we used a program called 'Fruity Loops' to made a sound track to go over the first scene as we could only find one piece of music and we used that for the second scene.

Once all the filming was done we used Final Cut Express to edit the film all together which was another challenge in it self as we did a few takes of each shot in case things went bad, so it was hard to choose the right shot to make it flow. We didn't really use many effects, only things like fades to made the film flow nicely, and we use a freeze frame, and made the shot go gray to show you who the important characters are.

Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to you final product?
Looking back to the preliminary task i can see that what we have done now is a vast improvement to what we did back then, first of all we did a lot of planning for this film as we had written out different copies of the script, a complete shot list so we knew what we were doing and when. Also we had a lot of fun researching our film genre as we got to watch things like 'Pulp Fiction' 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'The Godfather' for inspiration. We took things from these films like the suits all the gang members wore, and things like gambling and poker. However all these films included guns, and intense torture sequence's which we decided to leave out mainly because we would not have been able to film these, and if we attempted to i believe it would have ruined the film and made it look horrible.

In our end film we used a wider variety of shots like match's on action shots, panning shot and point of view shots, whereas in the preliminary task we only used things like shot reverse shots mainly because it was just a conversation and there was not much we could do.

I felt much more comfortable with the equipment the second time around mainly because i had used it once before and was familiar with it, also before we went out to film our project i had a quick tutorial on how to use the HDV 1000 camera from my tutor, which really helped.

I believe overall our film was a success in the fact it did what we wanted it to do, and it looks really good. However on problem was that we had to scrap the third scene because the day we finally got everyone who was in the scene, and all of the group who worked on the film together it rained really heavy and the scene was an outdoor scene, and we could not film as it was too bad weather for what we had planned and also the equipment we used was very expensive.

J.A.C.K Productions Logo/Opening by Andrew Robinson

These are screenshots from Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, we used fonts from www.dafont.com and made it to the same resolution as the video (720 x 576) so it would not stretch or distort when imported into Final Cut Express.

Graveyard scene removed - By Josh Nutt, Andrew Robinson, Connor Asquith and Kirsten Barman

After much consideration we have decided to remove the graveyard scene that we had originally planned. We did this simply because with the first 2 scenes being so long, we hardly had any time to fit it in and ran the risk of going over 2 minutes. We decided so that our film continued that we would swap the first scene and the second scene around, meaning that it ends on the cliffhanger, 'Where's Miele?', 'She is at the estate... With Carlo'.

Props used within our film - By Josh Nutt and Connor Asquith

First Scene Props Altogether

This is all the props from the first scene together laid out to show them all in one shot.

Second Scene Props Altogether

This is a picture of all the props used in the second scene, laid out in the positions they are in during the scene, except for the tray which is carried around the table by Luciana.

Table

This was only used in the second scene, which was just used to play poker on, it was only a table top to begin with, but we used a lot of bricks in the centre of the table to build it up to the right height.

Ashtray and Poker Chips

The Ashtray was used in both scenes, in the first scene it was used along side the Cigar Case, and in the second scene used in the centre of the poker table, mainly to show these men are also wealthy enough to smoke cigars.

The Poker Chips were used in the Poker scene as betting currency, and we used a lot of them to show how wealthy these men were and that there was a lot at stake in this game of poker.

Dollar Bills

These were used in the first scene on Alexandro's desk to show power, wealth and to show that he likes to show off his money.

Lamp

The lamp was just used to fill up some room on Alexandro's desk.

Tray, Wine Bottles and Glasses

All if these were used in both scenes. In the first scene all three wine bottles are on Alexandro's this was to show he is a wealthy man. In the second scene the tray was used by Luciana to serve out drinks to the poker players.

Cigar Case

In the first scene this was open on Alexandro's desk, we had it open because we couldn't actually buy cigars, we used them to show that Alexandro has money to spend as cigars were quite expensive and also showed power.

Plastic Diamonds

We used these in the first scene on Alexandro Messian's desk, they were used to show he is a wealthy and powerful man. They are hardly featured in the shot, but are on the table.

Cards

These cards were used in the poker scene, and just laid out on Alexandro's desk i the first scene to take up some room and to make the desk not look plain.

Decorations

These tiles and make shift mace were on the window sill in our first scene. These were purely for decoration and to make it look like the window sill didn't look plain.

Furniture Polish

We turned these around so that they looked like gasoline. They did feature in one of the shots we filmed, yet was not used in the final cut.

Chair

This prop was used in both of our scenes. We found 5 of these chairs when cleaning out preparing for filming. These chairs were basic and fitted the part nicely.

New Title Sequence - By Andrew Robinson

Made in After Effects CS4, this new title is much more professional and appealing to the eye.

Omerta Music/Soundtrack - By Andrew Robinson

This is the sound track I have made for scene 1, it is slow paced and I believe suitable for the scene, it works well with the pace of editing in the first scene and can be looped.

I produced this using Fruity Loops Studio 9, using free violin .sf2 (SoundFonts) at www.sf2midi.com.

Edited Blog: - By Andrew Robinson

Added a search box as you can see above, making it easier for people viewing our blog to find items of work.

Did this through blogger's features, and I have added tags to each individual post so any keywords search will hopefully produce the right post, containing the right information.

Developement on Title Shot - By Andrew Robinson

I had to develop the title sequence for our film further to fit our shot, our previous title sequence made it so we had to zoom in and distort our shot to transist to the title, in this version the "A" is zoomed out so we can transist to the new title shot easier and keeping the nicer quality of our previous shot.