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

After researching several distribution companies, I found out that 'New Line Cinema' distributed both of the Hairspray musicals. This was appropriate to film Big City as they were both aimed at the same audience, the narrative was similar to each others and they both aimed to attract the same audience.

'New Line Cinema' is an American film studio formed in 1967 and became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996.  The production card is a simple film clip with a blue glow around it and 'New Line Cinema' written in capital letters just below it. From research, New Line Cinema distributed films such as ‘Ghost of Girlfriend’s past and 17 Again’. 

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

We used only one main character for our film opening to make things clear. We presented our character as happy and cheerful. Our character was influenced by Rachel from Glee.

We used high and low angle shots to show the characters personality. The first low angle shot was used to make her look dominant in the city when she had just arrived, the shot before she is about to perform, the high angle shot makes her look shy and afraid. This shows that this could be her first big audition. This relates to Rachel from Glee who always wanted to be a star in the big city.

Musicals can be very stereotypical and so we decided to dress our character in bright colours to show that she is a happy and energetic person. The extra in our film plays as an unfriendly character and is dressed in boring, dark colours.

The personality our protagonist can also be compared to Rachel both are presented as having a gentle personality. For example, even though the extra is the one that barges into our protagonist, the protagonist graciously picks up the bag and apologises.

The music we used in our film also helped us to establish our protagonists personality. It helped to show how young at heart the character is and it seemed as though it was her voice we were hearing. The song was also very upbeat and showed that something happy was going on.

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

Location & Lighting

Most musicals are shot in big cities. For example Chicago is shot in Chicago and on a huge stage. We decided to shoot in Piccadilly Circus because it’s a popular place in London and it has loads of tourist attractions and a theature.

A hall or stage as a rehearsal area is also very common in musicals. In Chicago, the use of a spotlight is very effective, so we decided to use one as well.

Costume & Characters

Costume is very important in musicals because it helps differentiate characters and stereotypes. Even though in musicals, most characters wear bright colours, in Chicago they don’t. They were dressed in dark coloured clothing be it more of a serious, mature production rather than Hairspray were everything is happy and jolly.

 

Music

In musicals, the songs are similar to the films narrative. In our film opening there was no singing. We had our character going to practise for an audition; it’s a build up to the main performance which would come later on in the film. We used an upbeat son sung by a young person which was from the musical genre. The song fitted perfectly with the film because it fitted the narrative.

Shots used

Through out the research, we noticed that high angle and low angle shots were used a lot.

We used both low angle and high angles shots in our movie opening. These shots helped us show facial expressions and location. We used a low angle shot to show how small she is compare to the big city. This shot also helps us establish her excitement of the attractions. 

Filming

This is a shot of me filming in Bishop Thomas Grant School reception. It was a great experience but it came with a lot of distraction especially because I was filming in a school. 

This shot shows us filming in Piccadilly Circus. It was great fun, in my opinion it was better than filming in school because it fitted into our movie and there were no distractions from the public and no one looked directly into the camera.

Editing

This is a screen shot of an important part of editing when filming a musical. This shot shows the colour corrector. This enables you to change colours and lighting of particular shots. You can see that the colour have been moved to make the scenes more brighter.

Comparing feedback

After my movie opening got previewed at school, I received a lot of suggestions, recommendations and things they liked. This is some of the feedback;

1.     ‘ The music went well with the genre, maybe you could use a stage for inside the theatre because it was obvious that it was a classroom.’

2.     ‘ I think the music helped establish the genre. It was constant throughout. The ending shot didn’t fit with the others’

3.     ‘ It appears to be a teen movie rather than a musical. The camera becomes a bit shaky at the end. Genre becomes clearer before the end. Excellent lighting.’

We then looked and discussed what changes need to be made to make it more appealing to our audience. We decided that we need to add more of a range of shots and colour correct the movie so that it could be brighter which gives it the musical feel.

After we made the changes, we had another final screening where once again we collected back feedback and this is some of the feedback;

1.     ‘ Music suddenly gets louder. First shot was quite long. The narrative is clear. Music/shots suite the genre.’

2.     ‘ Wide range of shots. Good continuity and timing. Music is befitting. Genre and narrative is clear. Correct volume levels of music.’

3.     ‘ Good variety of locations. Sound jumps. Good high angle shots. The lighting and spotlight at the end is good.’

During the course of editing, a mistake was made of the changing of the volume of the background music but this could easily be changed. 

Opening music

I created a piece of music that would go well with the production card created by Agata. I suggested that because it'll be call 'Piano Production', that the main instrument should be a piano.  played around with many piano sounds and put something together. I then showed it to Agata for some feedback and she said that she liked it but the tempo was too fast, so i made the tempo more slower and varied the sounds for each and make it blend in with the main theme music.