2. Q1) HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE OF CHALLENGE CONVENTIIONS AND
HOW DO THEY REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS? I believe that my movie
challenges the conventions of a normal sports movie. As usually
movies with a genre of sports are usually documentaries. Such as
the movie Athlete. Which is a documentary about a blind senior,
twin sisters, and an athlete running a marathon.It is very rare
that they're produced as movies. However it does use conventions
rather than challenging it as like every sport movie, my movie clip
is also based on a true story about an athlete who has build up
their success through out their lives; from the start. How theyve
devoted their lives to their talent, and come a long way on the
road of triumph. But some how, something or the other happens,
putting a stop to their success. In all movies this obstacle is
usually doing drugs, or getting into an accidents, where they show
how in their past, and from their childhood they were into a
certain sport, and excelled at it from the start. This is the
3. Such as the movie The Arm Strong Lie which is based on Lance
Arm Strong, a worldwide known athlete, a champion at cycling, who
took steroids which affected his career greatly. Or even in the TV
show one tree hill where the star actor, Nathan Schott gets into a
physical fightis thrown out of a window of a bar; ending physically
disabled. Putting this whole basketball career to an end. These
kind of movies usually have sad, slow beat, instrumental tunes for
the movie. Such as mine. Which is the tune ofSay Something by a
great big world. Movies like these always show the athlete to be
devastated about their loss of success and usually careers. Which
is exactly the plot of my movie, where Maliha, is shown to cry over
her medals and trophies, not to mention shown shattered when coming
out on a
4. They all use props such as medals, and trophies signifying
their success. They're also always shown in a sporty attire and
jerseys. In my movie the girl, through out, is wearing sports
tracks. And even in the flash back, in the gym scene she's wearing
a Nike sports shirt. Also in the flash backs where's she's shown as
a child, she's also wearing a jersey and where in the field scene
she's also shown to wear her own sports jersey, with her name
printed at the back. They usually also have flash backs showing
that theyve been talented and playing the sports for long periods
of time. Not to a mention they always have a coach who is very
supportive and encouraging of their efforts such as in my movie as
well. They're always shown to train and physically build up
themselves. And effortlessly trying to work hard to maintain
themselves physically and metaphorically speaking, their success as
well. Such as in my video as well where she's endlessly shown to
work hard in the gym and on field along with her coaches
support.
5. In my movie, the camera angles used are mostly reflected on
the shots from movies such as Bhaag Mikha Bhaag, the Arm Strong
Lie, Breaking Away and Cycling Dreams. Such as the shots of her
crying over medals, the cut in of her feet while running or
training, close up shots of her crying or working out. Social
groups represented in my video are athletes. The whole movie is
based on sportsmanship, and sports&games altogether. Its based
on an athlete alone, and the plot reflects her struggles and her
success as a professional sportsman.
6. Q2) HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCE AND CAN IT BE
DISTURBUTRED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT? My movie is a mass movie
production and doesn'tt target any sort of niches, such as a
particular subgroup of people, sex or a specific age. Therefore it
can be catered to a varied age bracket. This is because athletes
are of various ages, not just from one age group. Even though they
are usually young adults but not all of them are. Such as Muhammad
Ai who is the age of 73. This movie caters to all those people who
are professional sportsmen, such as Lebron James, Tiger Woods,
Serena Williams. Or all those who love sports, and are sporty
people playing in their school teams, or on the street such as
street football. These are usually high school or college children;
all who are talented at the art of it. It basically caters to the
age bracket of 14 and above, having a rating of U.
7. Hypothetically speaking, I believe that this being my first
movie, it can not be distributed by the big six. Let alone the fact
that my production company is small, so cant even afford it. Also,
Mainly because even though catering to a large age bracket and
being a mass production, its such a genre that most people wont
really prefer to watch, specially in terms for entertainment. Only
people who genuinely are interested in the arts of sports or such
movies, in relevance with documentaries of the stories of athletes
would watch it. So I believe it would be a risk of investment of
hiring one the big six. Such as even the movie The Armstrong Lie
didnt hire any real distributing companies, rather a few people
joined produced it together as a whole. Such as Alex Gibney, who
was also the writer of the movie, Frank Marshall, Beth Howard etc.
Or the Movie Athlete or Unbreakable which didnt even have a
distributing company to begin with. Therefore I would use a small
distributing company to market my film, and would use conventional
ways or marketing it my self such as releasing posters, word of
mouth, or on online websites such as blogs,
8. Q3) HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION SKILLS DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THIS
PROJECT? I believe Ive come a long way, from the very first video I
shot as practice in September, to shooting my final video. Through
my eventful experience the baseline to what Ive learnt is that
every single, small detail, and every single aspect reflects your
video, and its plot in some way; whether directly or indirectly.
Firstly, I learnt about the different proportions and frames. How
leaving space for head room is completely vital. I learnt this
mainly with practice, as I had to shoot shots numerous times
whenever the headroom was cut off. Rule of thirds where the subject
of your frame has to be positioned at one side of your frame
leaving the space for them doing some action such as hand gestures.
At the end of it all, I got knowledge to the inside of production.
How different angles are shot. I know now that when in movies the
subject is feeling dizzy or something camera men use track shots,
where they rotate the camera 360 degrees to portray that dizzy
effect. Or how huge crowds are shot with a jib shot where the
camera is elevated off the ground on a small crane. I know now all
the specifications there are to producing a particular scene. And I
can now comment on various movies, whether it be criticizing or
honouring it. Such as commenting on the commendable work of the
producers of birdman; the movie shot in one scene only. I know
exactly which points I can
9. my knowledge has increased most about camera angles. How not
only one scene should contain numerous angles so the scene doesnt
look lifeless or monotonous but how every single camera angle
represents something. Each angle portrays an image in a way. Such
as the point of view shot, which is shot by putting the camera on
the subjects arm. It gives a meaning of how the subject is doing
something, such as point to someone, or grabbing something. Or in
the case of my movie, she is fixing the position of her trophy, and
metaphorically actually trying to fix her success back to the way
it was. Or the over shoulder shot which is shot, as the name
suggests, by placing the camera over ones shoulder and shooting the
subject in front. This can be to show that someones looking at the
thing or person in front, such as during a conversation. In the
case in my video where shes looking at her self, training in the
mirror. Or even the close up shot where you zoom in on your
subjects face to highlight an emotion or expression. In my video
Ive used a close up shot as my establishing shot of my subject and
the again, where in the gym scene I've shown her face covered with
sweat, her expression bursting with determination; to show how hard
she's working. A two shot where you portray two people having some
a conversation. Where in my video I've shown the girl and her coach
talking, where the whole scene just portrays how proud the
coach
10. Ive learnt the importance of misenscence, which I believe
covers the word CAMPS; Costume, Action, Makeup, Props, and Setting.
The way your subject dresses and what kind of makeup they have on
are one of the most vital things in producing a movie clip. As they
have to be completely in line with the plot of your story. This is
why in my movie, my subject wears a jersey, in the flash backs
shown of her running and training on the field. In the gym
flashback, shes shown to wear a Nike shirt which says run for glory
which contributes to the plot, where shes shown as an athlete. With
very insignificant makeup which is just done for touch ups as bold
streaks of makeup would look rather fake or irrelevant.
11. Ive learned how every small, insignificant detail matters
so much in terms of actions and reactions. How every move
contributes some how to a particular scene and how every action
should have some hidden meaning attached to it because that is what
a good movie clip should posses. Like in my movie, I shot the
subject laying her fingers on her trophy which showed how much she
values her success, and how much she misses it all. Every scene
shown her expressions contributing to the plot and scene of the
movie. Where in the gym and field scene she's determined, resolute
and unwavered in her road to success. Or In the hospital scene
where she's hopeless, flattened and completely helpless. Ive learnt
how every single little prop, which maybe blurred at the background
of your frame or highlighted at front, all justifies your video in
someway or the other. Such as in the scene where my subject is
doing push ups in the gym, I put up to dumbbells in front of her so
the whole scene could look more realistic. Even the props of all
the trophies and the medals, just reflected on all the success and
honour the subject has achieved in her life; which is one of the
main themes of my video.
12. Along with the props, the setting plays the most
significant role in the production process of a video. Ive learnt
how choosing the location youre going to shoot at is the most
important as not only does it contributes to the realism of the
video, but it just paints a complete picture of your story. Without
a suitable location, at least what I have come to learn is that a
movie wont be on point. Therefore choosing a wrong setting or
background for your movie is one of the biggest faults one can
make. This is why I chose the most real and relevant locations for
my movie. Such as a gym and track field to show her train, and a
hospital to show her disability. Which I believe makes my movie
clip as close to a real life, and a true story based movie. Ive
learnt about lighting and music and how they both seeming, at first
so insignificant, yet play such an important part in a movie. I
learnt how there are so many types of lighting, and they all mean
something. I previously didnt even know there were types of lights
and I wouldve never been able to figure that they represent
something. Learning the division of light was so important. Low key
which is where there is dim lighting and a dull atmosphere, usually
done to represent pain, sorrow,
13. Where as high key lighting which is the completely opposite
of low key lighting and is where there is ample lighting spread
across the frame. Which is preferred when showing a scene of drama
or comedy. Personally have come to learn that music is the aspect
that somehow make the movie come together as a whole. It plays with
your sentiments and how choosing the right kind of music is a very
important decision to make, and should be considered very
critically. As music represents every scene, every action, and
every emotion in a movie. Such as my music selection which is a
very sober, slow beat, devastating instrumental tune. Which
represents how sad the subject is over her loss emotionally and
physically. As compared to in the training scene where the music is
still slow beat, yet motivational, and inspirational. Therefore I
believe all the knowledge Ive gathered these past months; during
all the tiring practice sessions all contribute to polishing my
production skills and its made me so much better at implying all
the knowledge Ive attained and understanding the process of
production.
14. Q) HOW DID YOU INTERGRATE TECHNOLOGIES (HARDWARE, SOFTWARE,
AND ONLINE) IN THIS PROJECT? At the start of the semester I was
very technologically under- educated; Honestly. I knew very little
about hardware, software, and online-based sites, mostly because I
never really actually had to work with them. I mostly developed and
used the methods of blogging; softwares to edit movies such as
Imovies, Windows movie maker and Sony Vegas, websites to cut and
fade music, and to get sound effects. Firstly I learned about
creating a blog. All year round we published practice videos on it.
I was introduced to the art of blogging, and by the end of the
semester had in-depth knowledge about the ways it goes about.
15. I learned how to get artificial sound effects from various
sites, such as sound bible, real affects, sound cloud. Which I
wouldve never originally discovered. They helped me so much
creating my movie. Where in I used it in the accident scene and I
had no other choice of getting such an effect unless I actually
made the two cars crash into each other. I learned to download
music form various sites such as mp3skull.com, Bmp3, Ytpak, and
then cut and edit them on music software. Then fixing narrations
and adding voice overs to my clip and adjusting it on IMovie, while
fixing the volume input level and reduction of other tracks, and
background voice as well, to provide a perfect audio for the clip.
Simultaneously understanding the importance of fading in and out
the music to give it a smooth effect. I learned how you could
change each key of every tune and make it high or low key, and
balance it out; giving the perfect adjusted sound. I wouldve never
worked so hard with finding the appropriate music and editing it
each key to make it suit the scene
16. I learned to use IMovie's in order to edit my videos in
extensive detail. With monthly practice and usage of it, I now know
it properly. From how to split clips, so that each part of one clip
could be separately edited. Like in my video, where the girl is
running on the field and then theres a slow motion of her stopping
at the cones. Editing my clip on IMovie's was very important
because I needed the perfect kind of contrast of colours on my
flashback scenes to make them actually look like they're in the
past. Using transitions was so important to, to somehow stitch all
the different clips together. The most important transition which
had to be carefully presitioned was the dissolve effect at the
beginning where the clip shown where she's lying on the ground is
dissolved onto the next one which portrays that she's thinking
about all that comes next. Or how a fading black out effect would
portray that she's now thinking about her past, and the next scene
will be a flash back. Lastly, the white outs, which was its for the
accidents scene, showing that the crash was very impactful.
17. BLACK OUT WHITE OUT
18. Over time, I've understood the importance of cut ins. How
cut ins are so very important in a movie, how they can make one
boring, monotonous scene seem so interesting. Ive used them several
times in my movie clips. I believe these were very important no to
make a scene a drag. Cuts ins are usually shown when a scene is
very long or shown as a close up shot when the subject is doing
some important action, such as in my movie clip where shes shown to
fix her trophy, or during the flash back of her winning the same
medal back in 2003, theres a close up shot of her happiness when
she received it as a child. There were also cut ins during the gym
and running scenes where there are cut ins of her shoes, showing
her speed. There's also a cut in of her jumping over the cones,
where the cut in is a low shot, shot from binate her, showing that
she's actually over the cones at a high level. Cut ins can even be
shown of a completely different scene all together. Such as in the
opening scene of the movie Lucy. Where they show cut ins of animals
along with her being at the hotel.
19. I discovered various types of transitions and effects all
that join one clip from another. Such as using fade outs and black
outs for showing flash backs, or white outs for showing accidents.
Lastly, I got a hand of using my camera on different modes. Even
though I was originally good at using my camera for shooting, now I
however use different modes of the camera which I previously didnt.
such as the macro mode, which I used in all the close up scenes to
get a good quality frame where everything is in deep focus, or the
sports mode which I use to shoot them gym and field scenes to
stabilise my shots.
20. -I believe Ive come a long way from where I began. I think
it was mostly due to continuous hours of practice and
determination.
