Slow Burn Commentary

Xtranormal Interview

Slow Burn

Evaluation

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

Having finished our product, I feel we have used film noir and neo-noir forms and conventions quite well. Our piece focuses on the femme fatale, which we have modernised using two male characters who are involved with her, mirroring a 'two-timing' scenario. The femme fatale has always been a major factor in making film noir, so we felt it was important to carry that core belief in our work. Personally, I found that our product could have used more scenes featuring the femme fatale. I felt the exposure to the character was somewhat less than originally desired, with focus falling on the three male characters. However, I do feel this gives her an enigma, which adds power to the character and reinforces her influence over her male counterparts.

I wouldn't say that our product challenges any conventions, but I'm confident we've developed the core idea of a femme fatale.

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

Our media product focuses on teenagers, reflected by our four characters. I feel this makes the product easy to relate to for our audience, as a majority of them will be teenagers themselves, or young adults. I do not feel this makes the product inaccessible to older audiences, however I do feel that certain themes may be less easy for them to identify with. As far as negative representation, I understand that our product shows teenagers as being involved in some fairly shady activity. However, the product itself only shows a fragment of the larger story, thus I feel this may not be a serious issue for us.

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

Our product would likely attract the attention of an independent distributor. Film4 is known for distributing independent films, as well as Entertainment Film Distributors. Film4 is certainly the better known of the two, however this may not work in our favour, as our product may not capture their attention as we hope. A company such as Entertainment Film may distribute our product, as the piece is less high-profile, meaning any success would benefit the distributors directly.

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

Our audience is largely teenagers, or more specifically those aged 15-25. I feel the product is accessible to those older than 25, however I think it would only be fair to say they are not our prime audience.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

We've attracted our audience by using a contemporary setting and young characters in our product. As a group of teenagers, I feel we produced something that our generation will be able to access quite easily. The premise is not too accessible, maintaining a sense of danger and excitement, whilst still being open enough to invite people to view it. I feel this is the key to our address of the audience, along with our use of the 'two-timing' scenario, which many people will be more than familiar with.

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

I think personally, the one technology I truly came to appreciate whilst filming was the microphone. On a few occasions we were forced to re-shoot key scenes for the product due to our lack of understanding the sound equipment. We soon learned where we were making our mistakes, and the product was no great problem to continue filming, however the whole process definitely taught me to constantly bear the microphone and sound in mind. I also found the camera interesting, specifically how I could use it to compose shots and capture what was happening in front of the lens. As I am also studying photography, I found the composition of shots was not the problem, however composing a shot that contains motion was something I was excited to try. As far as editing, we were taught how to use FinalCut Pro. The program incorporates multiple tools, which allowed us to manage sound, video and titles easily from one window. We did not have any real problems with the editing process, however we did encounter some small problems with logging and capturing our footage.

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

Upon reflection, I feel that our preliminary task was incredibly weak. Having worked on a much longer and more complex project since, I felt like we did not realise what we could actually do with the equipment whilst we were filming the preliminary exercise. I feel that between our initial task and the noir project, we learned that teamwork is absolutely necessary to completing even our simplest goals. During the pre-production, we divided the work-load between each other and found this was far more effective than simply slaving over it together. We also divided up the jobs involved in actually filming and constructing the product, meaning that each team member had to trust the others to do their jobs, whilst making sure they did their own. I feel that I, personally, have gained a lot of invaluable hands-on experience with the filming equipment and editing facilities.

Slow Burn: Treatment

• Plot synopsis: Nathan, a small-time drug dealer, is found by a couple of rival dealers. He has been seeing Amy, the girlfriend of Jamie, Nathan’s rival. Jamie and his friend catch Nathan in the park, and chase him down. As Jamie runs from his pursuers, he reflects on recent events, largely involving drugs and Amy. Jamie realises that Amy has betrayed him, and decides that he needs to confront her, in order to clarify the situation.


• Sound editing: The sequence we shot is fairly non-diegetic. We have focused on overlaying sound, instead of using the sound from the shoots themselves. We have done this to create a sense of motion in the shots, since the concept of the sequence is the chase. The idea which inspired our choice of music was inevitability, as we were trying to create an almost claustrophobic atmosphere, enabling our audience to truly share the protagonist’s experiences.


• Editing: The editing for our sequence is crucial on several levels. Primarily, the entire rhythm and momentum of our project is based within the cuts we have used. We have several fast cuts in the edit, in order to maintain a sense of motion and urgency, crucial to the feel of the chase sequence. We have also used fades to black to mask small continuity errors, meaning parts of our edit were remedial. The final cut switches from a shot in a tunnel to a close-up of the protagonist in low-key red lighting. We decided to use this shot as we felt it presented the urgency of the scenario to the audience as immediately as possible. The shot was inspired by the film ‘Bronson’, in which several sudden close-ups are used to present the titular character as a stark contrast from his surroundings and others within his environment.


• Cinematography: We are trying to make the cinematography interesting, and varied we are going to use a lot of straight cuts. And a couple of fade outs, we will be using this to show a passage of time, whether this is short or long will be shown in the next shot. We are going to use a straight cut to a different scene showing a deadpan shot to the camera, where the main protagonist does a short speech to the audience. This is the final shot in our sequence, but we do have plans to put titles in between shots, these are going to be either clean cuts used to show a transition between two shots. Or they will be fade cuts into the title card, used to show a transition, these could also be used to slow down the sequence if we run into difficulties, and can be used to cover up continuity errors. We have used this to cover up some of a shot we could not reshoot, making it an effective method of “damage control”.

Script idea:

Since we're only working on the intro sequence for our neo-noir, the script does not call for that much to be said, especially since we'll be cutting up a lot of silent action in the editing.

Our primary interest, script-wise will the be the brief introductory narration, presented in a sort of 'pause' in the fast-paced action of the sequence.

Since I'm co-writing the script, here's an idea for our narrative:

EXT. OPEN FIELD. DAY

NATHAN runs towards the camera, stopping close. He looks deadpan in to the lens.

NATHAN

I know what you're thinking.

"What's this silly wanker gone and done?"

Truth is, I haven't got a clue what's going on.

But, it's all downhill from here.

NATHAN looks over his shoulder, seeing his pursuers and looks back in to the camera.

NATHAN

Oh, shit.

Fade to black.

Quick update:

Okay, so we've been given the pre-production for our neo-noir opening sequence!

The work has been fairly well distributed between the team, with Aiden working as Producer, Becca editing, Harry doing art direction and me directing and working with the camera.

I'll be helping Aiden out with the script whilst drawing up the storyboards.