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

I feel that our style and approach has developed a lot from the preliminary exercise of the continuity editing. We learnt that keeping to continuity is much more difficult than it first seems to get right, and major flaws can be really easy to miss.

The preliminary task was slightly rushed, as we only came up with the idea about 10 minutes before we began to film, and therefore stressed to us the importance of careful and precise planning. We only shot certain sections of the scene maybe a maximum of one or two times, which presented itself as a problem when it came to the editing stage - shots did not always work out the way we had intended, or there was something or other that made them unusable giving us no choice but to get rid of some chunks of film that we had intended to use in our task. We learnt from this, so that hopefully the same problem would not arise when it came to our main task - we learned the importance of taking multiple shots of the same action, repeating it numerous times, so that if any of the shots were problematic, there would be another similar shot that we could use. This also gave us a choice of shots to use, as they did not always turn out exactly the same each time.

Additionally, rushing the process resulted in the finished preliminary task being appearing slightly choppy, and not as smooth as it probably could have been if we were to make it with more consideration or experience. When it came to the main exercise, we deliberated over the continuity much more, watching the sequence frame by frame using the arrow keys to slowly go through and ensure action was continuous as much as it possibly could have been.

Another problem we encountered when we were editing the continuity task is that the action began almost straight after we had pressed record, and we stopped recording straight after the action had finished. This gave us very limited options at the editing stage, often missing out some crucial segments of action where the camera had not started to record in time. This hindered the editing process of our preliminary exercise somewhat. However, when it came to the main task we knew to leave a gap between pressing record and the commencement of the action, as when it came to editing it together, we would then be able to chose the exact point from which we wanted the action to start, instead of the restrictions that were placed on us in the continuity task.

One requirement of the preliminary exercise was to include a match-on-action shot, which we used in the form of the characters holding hands. We felt like this particular shot worked fairly successfully, and so incorporated multiple shots of this kind into our final sequence in the form of the character getting up, opening a door and smoking to name a few. This helped to add to the overall smooth feel of the editing in our final piece, as well as making it more visually interesting.

In the continuity exercise, we learnt about the importance of the 180° rule, and how detrimental it could be to the overall effect if disrupted or broken. This was simple to achieve in our preliminary task, as the characters were sat with their backs against a wall, and so it would have been near impossible to traverse this line. We had more spacial freedom in the creation of our main sequence, and so we made sure to try and stick to this rule at all times. In theory, the rule sounds as though it should be fairly obvious, but the likelihood is that if we hadn't learnt about it in the early stages then we would probably have disregarded it when it came to the construction of our final film sequence.

Another thing we learnt from the first task was that the camera we were using were not the best when it came to picking up sound. In the continuity exercise, the camera was placed quite far away from the characters, and so little of the diegetic sound or dialogue was successfully picked up, to a comfortably audible level. Although our main sequence contained no dialogue, the inclusion of parallel diegetic sounds like the character going to the toilet or striking the match were important to us to use in our sequence. We learnt that positioning the camera slightly closer to the character instead of using zooms all the time would result in a more successful capture of these sounds.

Finally, in our continuity exercise, we focused more on getting as wide a range of angles as possible, so as to demonstrate our ability in film-making. For the main task, we had learnt which angles would work best, and concentrated more on the framing of the lone character, who was central to our piece.

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

My practical knowledge of the technologies used in the creation of this coursework has improved great deal from how it stood at the beginning of the project.

Research

We utilised a range of technology when it came to the researching stage of our coursework. The main source of this was the internet, in the form of sites such as Google in order to try develop as good a background of the 80's as possible, in order to effectively represent this in our film.

Additionally, we used YouTube to research potential music tracks that we could integrate into our film in the form of non-diegetic music. This was a fairly successful medium to use, as it allowed us to refine our searches in order to find a song suitable for the period and the mood we wanted to convey. Additionally, we had intended to include clips of events from the 1980's, in a similar manner to 'This Is England' although unfortunately in the end we didn't have enough time. We also used YouTube to find suitable clips of this nature.

Obviously, we used Blogger to document and present the process of the the construction of our coursework. Having never used the website before, it gave me a chance to experiment with all different element of the site, including customising a layout and colour scheme, and uploading images and video clips. There were a few initial problems whilst I was still getting used to the site, but I quickly found my way around these.

I also utilised a scanner in the research process, in order to scan in images such as the storyboards and costumes to upload onto my blog as evidence. There was an initial blip in the fact that my own scanner at home hadn't been used in years and had seemed to stop working, but fortunately I was able to find an alternative, and eventually got the scans to put on my blog.

Filming

In the filming process, we used a Sony Handycam to record, which was a fairly straightforward piece of equipment. We quickly learned how to make use of the camera in order to achieve the particular effects we wanted in the film - for example, experimenting with the focus of the camera to create a gradual fade in at the beginning of the sequence.

Additionally, we made use of a tripod to hold shots steady and to minimise shaking and give an overall more professional appearance to the resulting shots. This also helped to promote the smooth feeling of realism that we were aiming for with our film, as it allowed the reader to concentrate more on the character without being distracted by a shaking shot, resulting in the shot being more visually pleasing. In the initial stages of filming, we tried experimenting with different ways to manipulate the tripod to achieve different effects. Although we didn't end up using any of the initial shots in our film, we experimented with using the lever on the tripod to pan the attached camera, both horizontally and vertically. We also experimented with angles, by adjusting the height of the legs on the tripod.

Whilst filming, we used a still camera to capture photographic evidence of the group whilst in the process of filming, as well as to scout for locations.This was necessary in order to give visual reference on our blogs, to clearly illustrate what we were writing about. The only problems encountered here were that sometimes the camera was forgotten and so we couldn't always provide efficient visual documentation for the 'behind the scenes' process of the filming.

Editing

Probably the most notable advance in my technological knowledge throughout this process has been throughout the editing stage of our coursework. Having very limited previous experience with Mac computer, this presented itself as a bit of a challenge, as everything was very different to what I had become accustomed to on a PC. However, we soon adjusted and began to use it to it's full potential.

One way in which this was achieved was through the use of the editing software iMovie. I had personally had no previous experience with programme before, and so my knowledge was very restricted. Fortunately though, one member of our group had prior knowledge of the programme and was therefore able to teach us how to use it effectively. We used this software to perform a whole range of functions whilst editing our film. Firstly, we uploaded the footage from the camera and then found how to cut it into the segments we required. We learnt how to add effects such as the Black and White effect and the Brightness and Contrast effect we added to our film in order to promote the period feel of our piece. We added a sound bridge when the character is using the toilet, as we felt that the action seemed to long on it's own. We cut it into 2 segments, and found out how to insert a still shot of previous footage we had recorded in order to make it more visually interesting. We then copied the sound from the first segment and adjusted the volume, so that it can be heard at a slightly quieter level in the next shot, promoting realism and continuity. Additionally, we learnt how to add titles overlapping our visuals, so that our names and the name of the film appeared towards the end.

We also used iTunes in order to get our chosen soundtrack onto our film. We first found and downloaded the song, imported it into iTunes and then applied this to the film using iMovie.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

We used a range of techniques to attract and address our desired audience in order to generate as much interest as possible in our film. Firstly, we used multiple conventions of media products of this type - for instance, typical stereotypes associated with this time period are represented in the narrative of the titles. This includes the elements of lower class, unemployment and smoking, all of which are frequently found throughout films similar to ours, like 'This Is England'. We decided to use these as we could see that the generic conventions had already proven popular for similar titles, and therefore would have a high probability of proving successful for our film as well.

Additionally, we tried to make the film as representative to the time period as possible, so that the elder section of our target audience would be able to relate to the film, as it would then hopefully be reminiscent of their real life experience of that time period. We made our character a relatively young man, so that the younger section of the target audience were not excluded, and could grow to relate to the character. He is the only character in our title sequence, and is central to all of the shots, and so by the end of the titles the audience has already become a little familiar with him, and are beginning to create a bond with that character.

We also addressed and catered for the requirements of our target audience via the results of a questionnaire, which we constructed and then put out to them hoping to regain their opinions on what they wanted our film to be. We then used this information and translated it into the final product, in order to make a film that the audience actually wanted to see.

We used non-diegetic music in the form of a song from Bob Marley, whose songs are exceptionally famous and renowned throughout the generations. This would hopefully inspire or encourage some fans of his music to watch the film. Additionally, it would hopefully create an air of nostalgia for the older audience, who may recall hearing it when it became famous for the first time, therefore helping to make the film more realistic. For the younger audience, it's contrapuntal sound in comparison to the visuals could be seen as motivating and exciting.

The importance of the mise-en-scene is stressed throughout the sequence, and we chose props, locations and costumes that strongly emphasise the 1980's vibe we were going for, in order to give the best representation of the time period as possible and make the film seem more true to life. Again, this will hopefully be evocative to the older audience members, attracting them into seeing the film. On the other hand, younger audience members may be drawn, as it is a time period completely different to what they are used to, as so they may be interested to see how life used to be, as it may be a completely new experience for them.

We edited the film to try and promote the aged feel with a black and white effect, which may be attracting to some audience members. It give the film a bit of an edge, making it unusual and that little bit different to many other films of its type. It also serves to make it the film overall more visually interesting, as black and white films are fairly uncommon in the modern day.

The Unique Selling Point of our film was, in short, to create something as different as we could from other people in our group. Hopefully, this makes our film stand out a bit more from its competitors, serving to offer the audience a wider range of choice.

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

From our research, we concluded that it would be best to target our film at two separate age ranges, from teens of about 15 and over, to adults. This is because we hope to create a realist image which multiple groups of people can relate to - our main character is fairly young, and so that is encouraging to a younger age range, and the older age range would have had real life experience of the time period, and may therefore be interested in the film for nostalgic effect.

After gaining feedback from other members of our group, we decided to market the film at an age rating of 15. We decided on this rating as if the film were developed, it is likely to include mild swearing and possible suggestions of violence. Additionally, when we showed it to others, they tended to notice the implementations of drug use, and suggested that it may not be suitable to market the film at a lower age range because of the unsuitability of this.

This is a typical member of our target audience. She is a student, currently studying Politics and Art in University, and her taste tends to have a strong sense of individuality. She often eschews high street shops, preferring to purchase more unique items from places like charity shops or vintage clothing lines, and spends a lot of time customising her clothing to create unique garments with her own touch to them. She enjoys all sorts of music, and listens to a whole spectrum of genres. There is a high probability that she would enjoy our film, as it is something a little bit different to other products on offer, and it's vintage, aged feel is an element that she finds alluring.

This is another typical target audience member. He too enjoys finding his own style, combining random items from his wardrobe together in order to create a more individual and expressing look. He is a very musical person, frequenting festivals such as Glastonbury and V, and he can often be seen with an acoustic guitar. His favourite genres span from alternative rock to reggae and ska - anything a little bit chilled and outside from the mainstream. He is currently in college studying English Literature, History and Photography.

This couple are typical targets for the older end of the target audience. They enjoy engaging in activities of a cultural benefit. They often frequent their local arthouse cinema for an evenings excursion, as they enjoy watching films of a more stylised and cultural nature as opposed to pandering to the American industry giants. This film is intriguing to them, as it is reminiscent of their life in the 80's, and will hopefully evoke pleasant recollections for them.

3) What kind of media institution might distrubute your media product and why?

The distribution and marketing of a film is a crucial element of the film industry, and yet unfortunately it is the British industry's biggest weakness. As it stands, the amount of money within the British film industry is already limited and spread thin, tending to focus more on the production and exhibition of films, and less so on the advertising. This is because widespread distribution can be extremely expensive, and the British industry simply cannot focus enough money into it to rival the distribution of films from industries such as Hollywood.

When we take into consideration the fact that we are making a very arthouse and perhaps niche film, the addition of an ailing industry could be consequently detrimental to the success of our product. Our film is far from a Hollywood blockbuster - much towards the other end of the spectrum, and it is not created with a vast target audience or mass appeal in mind. Although we are aim to target this film at 2 separate audiences, the probability is that the overall nature and indie feel will limit the intended recipients somewhat.

There are many different ways in which a film could be distributed in way which would reach its intended target audience as effectively as possible. For example, you could use posters, billboards, television and radio advertisements and magazines etc. Seasonal marketing is also brought into play, as in the summer, more people are likely to be outside and therefore more money is concentrated on outside marketing, whereas in the winter more televisual adverts are used. Additionally, as the Internet phenomenon expands, it is increasingly utilised in the distribution of films - particularly for films with a younger target audience. Viral marketing such as pop-ups, banners and online games are used to spread the word in both a time and cost effective manner. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter are used to reach as much of the target audience as is possible. Internet marketing is likely to be the primary source of distribution for our film, as it is much cheaper and in some ways more effective than more expensive marketing.

The distribution companies for our film would be likely to be UK based companies, specialising in more arthouse films. On company we could approach is Metrodome Distribution, as they specialise in more low budget, independent films. Previous films they have distributed include 'Shifty' and 'Fifty Dead Men Walking'. They have a reputation for releasing films which are known to "challenge our audiences and provoke the critics", meaning they could be a suitable option for a film like ours.

Another company we could approach would be Optimum Releasing, who were one of the distributors for 'This Is England', which is one of the main influences on our film. It also distributes many low budget British films, although it is perhaps best known for foreign language and anime releases.

Depending on the development of the storyline in our film, we could also use Icon Film Distributions UK, which specialises in "slightly off-centre indie pics", and has been the distributor for films, such as 'Nowhere Boy' and 'Starter For Ten'. It is a subsidiary of the American company Icon Productions, and so could potentially be beneficial to our film in the way that the American industry would have more money to offer to distribution.

If our film were developed into a real, full media product, it is likely that almost if not the entirety of the cast will be unknown, or emerging to the scene. The director and crew are also likely to be unknown or unestablished, or taking inspiration from 'This Is England', could be directer by the likes of Shane Meadows, or similar 'indie' directors. Our production budget would be likely to be very limited - possibly £1 million maximum, if that at all. As it is a very British film, is is likely that the majority if not all of the funding would come from UK sources - and the fact that funding is hard to come by, coupled with the low budget would probably result in using multiple funds from numerous production companies. One company that we may be able to approach would be the UKFC, as they specialise in funding the production of emerging and unestablished talent in the film industry. We could possibly make use of the Development Fund or the New Cinema Fund, which are aimed at films working outside of the mainstream.

We may also be able to approach the UKFC for the Prints and Advertising Fund, as the indie nature of our film and the low budget would probably result in a limited number of prints being made. 35mm prints are quite expensive, and so it would probably be more cost effective for us distribute our prints digitally, as a cheaper alternative - similar to low budget films such as 28 Days Later. Our film is likely to be shown in more arthouse and independent venues, such as the Bristol Watershed.

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

Our piece is centered around an unemployed, lower class white male living in the 1980's. In this time period, England was rife with unemployment and racial conflict, and so we took advantage of this, combining our previous stereotypes into a singular character.

One of the most important things we were trying to stress right from the beginning of our film is the representation of the characters lower class status. Firstly, we carefully selected a location with a mise-en-scene that we thought would immediately give the right kind of connotations about the character to the audience. The mise-en-scene of the house that we used was ideal for this representation, as it came across as small, cramped and cluttered. Everything from the crowded bookshelves to the aged fabric of the chairs gave the instant impression of an abode belonging to a character lower down in the social hierarchy.

Additionally, the location of where the character is seen to sleep supports the representation of his social status. He sleeps on a shabby old sofa, and only had a blanket to cover himself with - he doesn't have a bed or any of the luxuries that perhaps people of a higher status may take for granted. This is further enforced through the way that the character is not seen to live a very hygienic lifestyle - he sleeps almost fully dressed, he doesn't wash or brush his teeth before leaving the house, nor does he eat and he drinks straight from the tap. Individually, these may not seem to appear all that important or suggestive, but when combined they create a much bigger picture, insinuating his state of unemployment and emphasising his lower class.

The costume we used further aids this depiction, as it is overall fairly simplistic and plain, suggesting he cannot afford a more fashionable style of clothing. It gives an impression of shabbiness and decrepitude, as the ensemble looks hastily throw together. Additionally, the more gaudy print of the hat accentuates this, as it is perhaps a type of print that would be looked down upon by those in a higher class.

Furthermore, the character is shown to be a smoker, which is a conventional representation of the working class, both in that time period as well as the present day - people of a higher class are often portrayed as being too elegant, or else they are show to smoke cigars and other more elaborate tobacco products. This representation was again highlighted by the mise-en-scene, as the characters ash tray is shown to be a large, filthy pot full of discarded cigarette ends. The associations of filth and grime immediately connote a status of lower class.

We tried to keep the lighting of the interior scenes as dim as we could, as we felt the darkness would aid the implication of a lower social rank - by casting him in shadow and making some of the action quite unclear, it implied his level of social importance, or lack thereof. Contrastingly, the lighting outside was relatively harsh and bright, blocking out most of the characters face in the shot, which would again further suggest this. If the characters social status were reversed, we would have perhaps focused on him more, and allowed him to be seen much clearer, as that would have stressed his importance to the audience.

We also had a representation of the upper class in our sequence, when our character walks past more upper class, modern housing. These locations were more modern day housing, which at first we considered scrapping, but then decided to keep due to the way it suggests an advance in society of the upper class. The locations he passes contradict highly with the characters class, and the obvious juxtaposition of him in front of them emphasise his lower status to the audience.

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

The inspiration behind our film sequence comes mainly from the films 'This Is England' and 'Control'. We have used and developed numerous conventions that films of such a nature have utilised themselves in order to create our own product, set slightly aside from the mainstream.

One of the ways in which we have done this is through conventional representations in the narrative. For example, the character is shown to be lower class and unemployed, which is a situation that no doubt would have been prominent at the time. His social status is emphasised through typical actions such as smoking. This is reminiscent of the representations of class in 'This Is England', portraying working class characters as slightly rough around the edges. Additionally, we have included shots which portray an obvious class contrast - many real media products portraying this time period play on the issue of class, using shots which serve to juxtapose the lower class characters against the upper class in order to stress and highlight the characters place in the social hierarchy. We have included this concept in our sequence when the character is passing more upper class and modernized locations, which contrast highly against the location in which he has just been seen.

This is further emphasised through the mise-en-scene of the characters house, as the houses of the lower class in many films of this period are often gaudy and cluttered, and decorated with very drab colourings. We use the convention of low-key lighting to represent the characters social importance and class status. In 'This Is England', they used multiple clips that typically enforced the 80's association, but we chose to enforce this idea with hints through props instead. For example, when the character goes for a cigarette, his gear is seen to be laying atop a vinyl record, released around the time period we were trying to convey.

Our characters costume derives from the influence of 'Control'. The overall idea of the costume was simplicity, which could only further the implications of the characters social class. It differs slightly from the portrayal of social groups and styles in many other films, such as the stereotypical representation of skinhead culture, as seen in 'This Is England'. We felt that this was an all too common representation of the lower class at this time, and wanted to represent a different social pool.

The manipulation of the camera in our sequence was kept quite minimal - a typical convention of this genre is to focus more on the content and framing of specific shots rather than viewing the shot from a wide range of directions or angles. Additionally, it is rare that films of such as sort make use of camera movements such as pans or tracks, as these tend to convey a more modernised feel and lessen the realism of the depiction. We used a copious amount of close-ups in order to emphasise the characters emotions, his importance as a protagonist in our film, and also to begin to establish the familiarisation and bond between character and audience. We also made frequent use of long shots, in order to establish the setting and location for the piece, as well as highlight the spacial emptiness surrounding the character, highlighting the impression of isolation. This is something that can also be seen in the opening of 'Control', where the character is seen in the middle of the frame, surrounded by vast empty space.

'Control' was a completely black and white film, which is largely unconventional for films of this nature which were made in the modern day. This is a method often excluded from films of genre, and so we decided to incorporate it into our own in order to establish an unconventional element which set us apart from the mainstream. The overall editing of the film is continual and smooth, consisting solely of straight cuts, with the aim of promoting the feel of realism.

We decided to play on the conventional inclusion of a non-diegetic soundtrack, in order to re-establish the era of representation by using a song that would have been popular and recognisable amongst such a culture at the time. Following the lead of 'This Is England', we aimed for a track that was fitting to the visuals, yet contrapuntal at the same time, so as to create a more interesting viewing atmosphere.

The fonts we used were kept simple, and integrated into our sequence over the top of the visuals. A similar action was taken in the titles of 'This Is England', although we decided to make our titles a lot more subtle and discreet - less obvious or visually disruptive to the title sequence. We felt that this served better to aid the hitherto smooth and continuous flow of our piece, as well as accentuating the more artistic feel.

Additionally, the title screen made use of the typical black screen and white font ensemble, also seen in 'Control'. However, unlike our inspirations, we chose not to have a large title splayed across the centre of the screen, instead opting for a smaller title positioned in the corner. In deeper thought, this could potentially reflect details about the character and his state of mind - perhaps that he feels cornered, or insignificant. This idea of reflection is also utilised in the title screen on 'Control', when the title is made to flicker as if reflecting the characters epilepsy. The name of our film, 'Boho', is derived from a typical slang word at the time, meaning unconventional and non-conformist. Similar to both 'Control' and 'This Is England', this title served to mirror the themes and values of our film to follow.

Creative Risks

There were a number of creative risks that we took whilst making our film. Firstly, we chose to make a piece with a period feel, and eschew the more popular genres of horror and thriller which the rest of the year seemed drawn towards. This immediately put us more at risk, as perhaps it may have been easier to opt for the genre we were overly familar with, yet we decided to go out on a limb and try to create something a little bit different.

In addition to that is the fact that the genre we chose could potentially restrict our audience, as films of this sort tend not to appeal to a widespread demographic. The genre can be considered to be something of a niche market, particularly when given an arthouse feel, so could restrict the amount of recipients of our film. However, this could work to our advantage as it could help our sequence to stand out from the crowd overall, as different is not always a negative thing.

In the actual sequence, the usage of deliberate continuity disruption when the character is walking could potentially be a creative risk, as it could cause confusion in the audience who have thus far become acquainted with the smooth continuous editing of action which appears to flow almost seamlessly. However, hopefully instead of causing visual discomfort in the audience, it will hopefully serve to make the sequence more visually interesting, again using a bit of a different and unconventional cinematic approach to add to the overall feel of the piece.

Feedback

Once our film was complete, we asked the rest of our media group to watch it and share their thoughts and feedback. We composed a questionnaire, which we then handed out in order to get as wide a scope as possible on their opinions. Here are some of the results:

Overall, the gist of the responses seemed to be that they enjoyed the visual difference that the black and white effect created, and felt that the camera work, editing and lighting all worked well to create out intended image. The music also seemed to be successful amongst our audience.

On the downside, one of the negatives some people suggested was that our film could be interpreted as a slight promotion of drug use, which may not be appropriate for the younger end of our targeted spectrum.

Soundtrack

Today, we finally found a song that we wanted to use as the non-diegetic soundtrack in our title sequence. The song we found was an acoustic rendition of Bob Marley's 'Redemption Song', which we felt harmonised well with the slower pace of our titles, as well as evoking the time period fairly well. We had the song coming in just as our character went outside and began smoking, and the timings fit together perfectly, so that the vocal kicked in just as the character had lit the match.

Unfortunately, when we showed this to our Media teacher, she felt that the nature of the song when combined with the nature of the film we were creating presented the wrong sort of image and almost promoted drug use. She suggested that we look for a new song, and possibly one with a more contrapuntal and upbeat sound to interest the audience who may find the alternative too slow and boring.

We decided to try and stick with Bob Marley if possible, as we felt his music was highly representative of that era. Whilst searching, we came across the song 'Concrete Jungle', which had a faster pace, and a more motivational sound to it. We placed it alongside the visuals so that it began to fade in just as the character was getting ready, and fortunately the timing of this song also fit well with the song, with the drums kicking in just as the character walks outside.

Music Research

We felt that the inclusion of non-diegetic music would help to further emphasise the aged feel of the piece, reinforcing the era we are trying to represent in the film.

The 1980's was a very symbolic time for music, as the decade saw a vast expansion of the industry and the introduction of a variety of new musical genres which remain thriving to this day. The introduction of MTV in 1981 enabled a much vaster exposure of bands and artists, giving them more of a chance to widely express their musical endeavours through a more convenient medium.

The 80's saw the emergence of genres such as New Wave, Synthpop, Glam Metal, Thrash Metal and Hardcore Punk. This gave us a wide variety of genres to explore when trying to find a song that we felt would be fairly representative of the time period, as well as being perhaps reminiscent and hopefully recognisable to the elder section of the target audience.

The feel of the music we searched for also varied a great deal. We were undecided as to whether we wanted to choose a song with a parallel atmosphere to that expressed in the film - so more of a slow paced, perhaps softer song, or whether we wanted to aim for a more contrapuntal sound - possibly a more upbeat, faster paced number which would undoubtedly contradict the mood of the visuals. We decided to explore both avenues, at this point leaving our options open to search around and see what would fit and what would work alongside the visuals of our opening sequence.

As 'This Is England' is one of the main influences on our film sequence, we decided to look at their soundtrack as a starting point, exploring some of the artists they used to see if we could find any links to a song that we could use. From this, we discovered the band Toots & The Maytals, famous for their vibrant Ska and Reggae. We felt their music was fairly representative of the era, and could also fit well alongside our titles. On the other hand, we didn't want to copy 'This Is England' too much.


On the other end of the spectrum, I found a band called Foxboro Hot Tubs. Although a more modern band, their sound is more reminiscent of 80's punk rock, and so could have aided a successful portrayal of the time period in our titles. However, their songs were overall quite fast paced and perhaps a little to upbeat to successfully fit comfortably with the visuals of our sequence.

Editing The Title Sequence

After we had uploaded our footage and began to edit it, we noticed one minor flaw in continuity that we had not picked up on whilst shooting. In the transition between the first two shots in our sequence, the characters hand moves position quite noticeably. In the first shot he is asleep on the sofa, and his hand is covered by the blanket, but in the only shot that was usable as a follow up to this, his hand can clearly be seen by his face:

However annoying, it is unfortunately unavoidable; the first shot is the only shot we took experimenting with the focus effect and so is needed, and in all other shots of the character getting up, he rolls over the opposite way - thus the current shot is the only usable clip which would prevent the presentation of a far more prominent continuity flaw. It took us multiple plays to actually determine what felt off about the transition between the shots, and other people haven't seemed to notice it quite as evidently, so hopefully it will not seem too much of an obvious slip in the overall finished sequence.

Overall, continuity has been fairly successful, as each scene appears to flow unperturbed, and we have roughly kept to the 180° rule. However, at the end of the sequence, we have decided to deliberately disrupt the continuity. After filming all of the walking shots, we came to the realisation that the character does not always walk in the same direction. Instead of making this into a problem, we decided to combine the shots in such an order so that he walks in a different direction each time. This could help to make the sequence more visually interesting to the audience, disrupting them from the smooth flow they have become accustomed to throughout the previous segment of the sequence.

Whilst watching the sequence back, we decided that the shot of the character utilising the toiletry facilities seemed a little too long, and ended up dragging the pace of the sequence down. To overcome this, I suggested cutting the shot into two segments, and inserting some form of alternative shot in the middle, just to keep things visually entertaining and help continue the pace. We attempted to use a short clip of the hallway that we had seen before this shot, but unfortunately all our efforts were unsuccessful as the clips ended up being too short. Eventually, we found a way of creating a still frame from the previous shot, and inserted that instead. It worked well, as it was exactly the right length of time to help uphold the pace. We decided to add a sound bridge over the top, as the diegetic sound of the character urinating had came out quite well in the shot, and we didn't want to risk losing that. We cut a clip of the sound, and copied it to the still frame, dimming the volume slightly to help enhance real time and realism.

To help elevate the period feel of the piece, we decided to make the entire sequence black and white, taking inspiration from Anton Corbijin's 'Control'. To achieve this, now that we have finished our rough edits and collation of the footage for the titles, we are beginning to apply this effect using iMovie. We will be combining the black and white effect with the brightness and contrast effect, to again enforce and promote the intended time period - whilst taking inspiration from Shane Meadows' 'This Is England', we noticed that films revolving around the 1980's often have an overall saturated and high contrast appearance, which helps to promote the feel of the era - an effect that could possibly be lost if the film quality were to be as smooth as that of more modern films.

The addition of these effects has also helped us to overcome the prior predicament we had encountered with the overexposure of the film - in multiple shots, the problematic white balance resulted in us losing most of our characters face. However once these effects had been applied to the shots, the problem was relatively eradicated as we managed to regain some of the lost space, and blend the shots in with the rest of our sequence.

We finished by adding titles to our sequence. We made them integrated, as we felt that would be the method that would best fit with the style of our film - at the end of our sequence, we had four walking shots, and as there were four members of our group, we decided to give each group member their own frame. We used the font Apple Gothic Regular, as we felt a simplistic font would emphasise the time period best, as well as keeping the names small and in the corner to better reflect the arthouse style of the piece than a larger, more brash titling may have. We intended to colour them white so that they would blend in with the colouring of the rest of the piece, although upon watching our film on another screen they actually appeared blue due to a technological malfunction in the screen of the computer we had been using. However, this was quickly corrected before it could cause any major problem.

Our sequence finishes with a black screen containing the name of our film. We decided on the name 'Boho', as it was a frequented 80's slang word, thus further serves to accentuate the period that our film is trying to represent. Additionally, it is short for the word 'bohemian', which means 'unconventional in especially appearance and behavior'. We felt that this successfully represented the attitudes and values of our film, and so would be suitable to use as a title. Channeling influences from 'Control', we made the title white on a black background so as to empathises the word, and the importance and significance for its meaning. We again kept the text fairly small, and in the corner to make it that little bit different from other films - as you would typically expect a title to be bold and central to the frame, whereas this would drawn the attention of the audience to the corner.

Costume Ideas

When creating a period piece, costume is a highly crucial and pivotal factor to consider.The wrong costume could result in the time period that we want to put across to the audience being poorly represented, and therefore majorly influence the overall success of this portrayal in the film.

We brainstormed a few of our own ideas of typical 80's attire, and combined these with the results and suggestions from the questionnaire we had put out previously. From this, we could create a visual mind map, as seen below:

We could then go on to begin combining suggestions to plan and design whole outfits:

The costume we chose in the end was composed of plain black trainers, rolled up jeans, a long jacket and an aged hat. We chose this costume as it was fairly straightforward to create, and we also felt that it best represented the impressions of class and social status that we wanted to put across to the audience.

Shooting The Title Sequence

This weekend, we began the filming process for the main storyline in our title sequence. We eventually found a location, although it varied slightly from our original intended image, as instead of using some form of minimalistic bedroom with an overall simplistic appearance, a friend of one of the group permitted us to use their house to film. This ended up being a particularly successful location in which to film, as the aged mise-en-scene of the house evoked the era we were trying to create almost perfectly:

As expected, some parts of the storyboard had to be adapted to suit the new location, as otherwise they just would not have worked, or would have caused the 80's impression we were trying to convey to become relatively unsuccessful.

For example, we planned the first frame to be a close-up on the face of the character, but put into practice this didn't seem to work as well as we had intended it to, nor did it seem to fit the style of the piece. To overcome this, we instead started the sequence off with a mid-to-long high angle shot of the character asleep on the sofa. In terms of framing, the distance allows the audience to be simultaneously introduced to the character and the setting, getting an instant feel for the period in which the piece is supposedly set. Additionally, the high angle could also be interpreted as suggesting a feeling of vulnerability to the character, coupled with the vulnerability of being asleep:

We intend our sequence to being by fading into the action, and we originally planned to do this using various effects whilst in the process of editing our piece. However, we also attempted to do this manually, by experimenting with the focus on the camera. We managed to create a shot that begins blurry, but gradually comes into focus on the character on the sofa: