Final Project

Dear Sir and Madam, this is our final project ! 

Our film is called Mademoiselle Alix ("Miss Alix") and fits to the basic story idea I had when we started working on Film Preliminary. 

The winning team is composed of Vasco Xu and me. 

Release date: 3rd May, 2011

Writer - Director - Producer: Leopolda Contaux-Bellina

Co-Producer: Vasco Xu

Starring: Ana Maria Nicolaescu as Lea Seydoux and N'ky Traore as Tinie Tempah. 

(Mathieu Kassovitz does not appear in the opening sequence)

Runtime: 2'8" minutes

EVALUATION OF OUR MEDIA PRODUCT

 The following questions must be answered. 

Click on the question to be redirected to the proper article.

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


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


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


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


5. How did you attract/address your audience?


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


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

Credits:
www.youtube.com

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

Our opening sequence is between memories and dream. In fact, I think that the first scene of the film would be Alix waking up in her bed, the morning after the notorious night. It is therefore a discontinuous narrative with a lot of close-ups. 

Forms and conventions of our media product use and develop those from mainstream productions. 

Our audience said, after having watched the product, that it was very similar to Wong Kar Wai's productions. Wong Kar Wai is a Chinese filmmaker, "internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised films." Wikipedia 

Chungking Express, realised in 1994, has made him win the awards of Best Director and Best Picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards. He is a festival producer and gives access to complex, very stylised productions to a wider audience, in other words not only regular audience of art-house productions. 

As we can see in the trailer below, our camera work and atmosphere is similar to the Wong Kar Wai-style. 

Another style we have been using is the extreme close-ups used for instance in Dexter. We have been therefore reproducing the Dexter's opening sequence-style, but at the same time challenging mainstream productions because extreme close-ups are quite unusual.

We have developed Gaspard Noe's productions, an Argentinian-born French filmmaker. His film Enter the void, released in 2009, of which he has been the director, screenwriter, editor and producer, influenced our media production. In fact, I thought one of my main influence was the videoclip of the song All of the lights from the American rapper and record producer Kanye West. However, it happens that Kanye West has been copying Gaspard Noe style! So let's render to Gaspard Noe his original idea and creativity.

 

Top: Opening sequence of Enter the Void, Gaspard Noe, 2009

Bottom: Videoclip of All of the lights, Kanye West, 2011

Gaspard Noe did not put any video in his opening sequence, but I thought about developing his style to use it in videos. His intro is discontinuous but the film is then a continuous narrative. Our intro being composed of vague memories, we have developing his original idea.

Certain people could find our media product challenging because they might not be familiar with art-house productions. But as regular watcher of french art-house films, I find it quite normal!

Credits:

www.youtube.com

www.wikipedia.com

Getting the authorisation of using a track under the label Virgin.

The soundtrack in our media product is composed of 4 elements:

First, diegetic sound played slower or to which we added special effect like echo.

The intro starts with Pavane en Fa Diese Mineur from the french baroque compositor Couperin.

In the middle, it is One (Your Name) feat. Pharell from Swedish House Mafia.

Then at the end, I used the very end of Act 3 "If Love's a Sweet Passion" from The Fairy Queen from the english baroque compositor Purcell. 

I could not find under which label where the two classical musics. However, I found that One was under the label Virgin. From this moment onwards started the difficult and exhausting contact-hunting, or procurement-hunting.

I then started looking in the section Contact Us on Virgin Media's website. However I couldn't find any contact number or email. I sent emails to info@virginradio.com, webmaster@virgin.com (idea from my neighbour but it wasn't convincing really), media@virginproduced.com. 

The answer I got from Virgin Produced was this one:

They ask me to contact them directly without giving me any contact number or email address. My hunt wasn't finished!

So I went on the chat of Virgin Digital Help at 3am in order to get a respondent quite quickly. I perfectly knew I was not asking neither the right person nor the right department, but I needed to talk to someone instead of fighting with a machine.

As we can see, this conversation has been completely useless. I called the two numbers he gave me the next morning though. The Press Office was unable to give me any information and Virgin Media was a sort of MCQ.

I started looking on the internet again. After three days of research, I finally found that the head office of Virgin was in Hook, UK. Then I found on 192.com, in the category Holding Companies Management Activities in Hook the address and phone number of Virgin Media Communication Ltd.

I called, unfortunately it was closed, opening hours 8.30 to 5.30. I called again the next morning and after having explained my inquiry, someone immediately gave me the email address procurement.helpdesk@virginmedia.co.uk. I sent them an e-mail:

The most wanted file EVER.

I got an answer a bit later, which has been the one below:

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product represents particular social groups.


The main one is 20-23 years old mixed race middle/upper-class metropolitan/afro-carribean.


According to their social status, most of the characters belong to quite the same social class: upper middle class. We guess by their manures, language and clothes that they belong to this high social community. We could probably qualify their familial background as posh.


The details of each character are:
ALIX - british - female - 21 years old - upper middle class - ethnic majority
PAUL - french/japanese - male - 20 years old - upper middle class - ethnic majority
HAMS - senegal - male - 23 years old - upper middle class - ethnic minority
JOE - british - male - 21 years old - middle class - ethnic majority
(Note: some ethnical backgrounds are considering as being the majority because the film takes place in Britain, that is why we consider Hams as belonging to an ethnic minority)


Characters' families do not appear in our media product (neither do they in the film). Young people are really together and do not receive ay advice from older people.


My media product itself represents particular social groups by the scenes themselves. In fact, I chose to film parts of the body, details in accessories or clothes, elements of nightclubs. These elements, in our opening sequence, do transcribe this milieu of gilded youth where money is not a problem, where these young adults have everything they want, have no limits fixed by their parents because they do not see them most of the time, so they have to find comfort in something else like riotous sexual life, use of drugs and alcohol...


The description made by my media product is then a sort of critical view on this part of the society who seems to be fulfilled, to have everything it could possibly want, but who is actually completely lost.

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

Our media product is definitely an art-house production. I had done some research already on distribution companies specialised or supporting art-house productions. After looking at a range of such, I chose Film4.

My choice has been really specific on the production companies that should produce us. Again, I had to choose between a range of art-house production companies. I finally chose WarpX and Comberg Productions.
WarpX would definitely produce my media product because they are the type of media institution that begin to explore the implications of digital technology in the traditional production of films. Moreover, WarpX being an ex-music production company, we could have the opportunity to obtain great tracks of yet unknown folk/indie/rock bands.
Comberg Productions is an amateur British film company. They used to support minor political parties. Since then they started producing long films. This production company will also distribute my media product. I have therefore chosen to have a co-production between WarpX and Comberg Productions.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

According to our audience research, we identified our niche audience.


It does not seem to be any differentiation between gender. 
In fact, no one, male or female, while talking about our media product, specified the fact that the principal character, being a girl, would influence their choice of watching the film. Boys do not mind not being able to identify themselves to the character. 
Each gender will be represented in our niche audience.


There is definitely a difference of view according to the age. 
Young people between 17-25 feel already like watching the film only with the narrative. After visioning of our opening sequence, they feel even more like it. The style of filming, the atmosphere and the music (particularly the electro house music) give them this envy. 
Older people between 50-55 are not really convinced by reading the narrative. However, after having seen the opening sequence, the style and atmosphere increase their curiosity. The classical baroque music make them feel that it is a production of a certain quality.

According to the British Board of Film Classification and to their descriptions of each classification, I would think that our media product fits the category '15'. In fact, focusing on what will be going on in our film, the sections Drugs, Imitable behaviour, Language, Nudity and Sex of the classification 15 are relevant. The use of drugs and alcohol and the active sexuality that will be showed in the film fit to the description below.

BBFC '15' classification logo

However, this classification is the one planned for the film. After realisation, the result might tend to a '18' classification !

Since ethnic majorities and minorities are pictured in our media product, our audience should be composed of each of them. 

Different sexual patterns are represented in our media product: heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual. As a matter of fact, I would expect people from every sexual background.

Our film would represent young people from the upper middle-class, if not from the upper-class. In fact, all of them have the cultural and material capitals of these social classes. Through my own experience, I have observed that people from all social classes watch films in which only one social class is represented. However, this film being an art-house production, I guess that our niche audience will be people from the middle and upper-classes, in other words people with a certain high cultural capital. 

To sum up, our targeting defines our niche audience as middle/upper-class 15/18-45 years old male/female hetero/homo/bisexual from every ethnic background. 

Tommy Hilfiger adverts that could be a representation of our niche audience
(except that people won't be neither models nor dressed by Hilfiger !!)

Credits:

www.bbfc.co.uk

How did you attract/address your audience?

We have done some work already with the hypothesis of Colin Burrows from Special Treats Production promoting our media product.


The first thing I thought about to attract my audience has been a poster. I took Black Swan's poster for example, in order to have the right pattern of a film poster.

This is then the poster of Mademoiselle Alix:

I used this photograph of the opening sequence for three reasons: 

First of all, we definitely see that it is girl with the long hair and the neck. The neck is a very sensual part of the body but in the same time not a hidden part of the body. So it is not purely sexual. 

Then, because of the Peter Pan collar that reminds to the school uniform, to the childhood (most of the dresses for girls have this type of collar)... Moreover, being made in lace reminds to the femininity. 

Finally, we do not see the face of the character, which shows the impersonal side of the relationships going on in the film. In fact, Alix seems not to care too much about the personality of the people she meets. However, I consider that the face and the eyes are the image of the soul. So the poster will attract the audience because of its originality and the questions or curiosity it raises.

As we can see under the release date, there is the address of a website: www.mllealix.com

(This address is not of course real) This could have been the address of the website that we could have realised for the promotion of the film. We would have put on this website the original idea of the film, information on our direction and production companies, interviews of the director, producer, actors... Our audience could have left some messages, ask questions etc. I would have built this website in order to have a real exchange between us and our audience.

Eventhough our film is not a blockbuster, I would have tried to organise a premiere with the presence of the director, producer and actors. Our audience would have got the places on the website. Confirmed guests would have received a special edition of the film on DVD at the end of the premiere for instance. Journalists and reviewers would have present of course.

The goal of this event would really have been the exchange between our team and our audience.

A teaser would probably have been made and would have been viewed in art-house cinemas mainly, in order to get a special audience familiar with art-house productions.

Credits:

Microsoft Office - Words 2011

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

First, through the carrying out of the storyboard animatic, I learnt how to use iMovie 9 from Apple. I bought a new MacBook since then and used iMovie 11 for the production my media product.

The editing has been an important part of my learning. I was a regular user of Windows Movie Maker on Windows XP. The concept of editing was not unexplored for me, but I had to get familiar with the presentation of iMovie 9. 

But before looking at the use of software through the editing of my final product, I would like to talk about the hardware used through the shooting of the product.

We used a digital video camera to shoot the scenes. I learnt as director, to be: camera operator, (my own) camera assistant to settle the focus, sound engineer (as well regarded to the diegetic sound as to the non-diegetic sound while editing). My team mate Vasco has been settling the light and has been filming a part of the footages. 

Digital Video Camera

Then we had to invest in a special Belkin 6'/1.8m FireWire 800/400 Cable that would connect the camera to a MacBook Pro only. In fact, the white MacBooks do not comport the FireWire 800 port that only MacBooks Pro have. 

Belkin 6'/1.8 FireWire 800/400 Cable by Apple

FireWire 800 Port on a MacBook Pro by Apple

I put then the footages on a friend's MacBook Pro and used then the Bluetooth to send all of them on my computer (yes it took a long time but I was not motivated enough to look during hours for my USB device...). 

This shows the proliferation in hardware implemented by Apple. In fact, to connect this lambda digital video camera to my Mac, I went to an Apple Store to ask why the camera was not recognised by the computer when I connected it in the USB port. He told me that I had to purchase a special cable from Apple in order to make the connexion. I had brought my MacBook with me. He told me then that I would better have a MacBook Pro handy because my MacBook does not comport the FireWire 800 port required to plug the cable in. There is in fact no available cable with an USB jack. Therefore, putting footages from any digital video camera on an Apple computer requires to have a MacBook Pro ! Hopefully a friend of mine has one, which allowed me to transfer the footages on this Mac and finally on mine...

Having the right equipment, the transfer has been easy as pie!

Coming back to the use of software, using iMovie 11 was simpler because I already had the experience of iMovie 9. 

First of all, having put all the footages somehow or other, I had to import the movies from my navigator to iMovie.

I had then all the footages on iMovie and I could start working on it: the big part of editing!

Through the editing I became more and more familiar than I was before with:

Add sound effects (non-diegetic sound) or music.

Putting a music shows again the proliferation implemented by Apple. In fact, there is no other way of putting music in iMovie other than through iTunes.

Adding transitions to the video

Adding titles to the video 

Adding a background

Animatics were not available on iMovie 9 when I built up my storyboard animatic. I would have use some though.


Finally, I put my final media product on DVDs. I had done this before on Windows. I had to do it on Mac this time. The drill is actually simpler on Mac. I used TDK DVDs.

The last step was to upload the video on YouTube in order to put it on my blog. It took a long long time but if eventually succeeded. 

Credits:

iMovie 9-11

www.apple.com

www.google.co.uk
www.youtube.com

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

"Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action,shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule." OCR Specification

This preliminary task allowed me to start out with filming methods. In fact, I have been acting in this product but since it was a team work, everyone could give ideas on how demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. We used a tripod all the time, the camera was never 


Match on action, as I talked about it in my previous article "Preliminary task", has been improved when we shot me entering the room from two different camera angles. 

There is not too much match on action in my final product since I wanted to give this impression of incertitude, vague memories, so by definition something discontinuous. The only scene where I abided by the match on action was when the characters go in the toilets: we see the feet entering the room and then the hand locking the door.

The 180-degree rule and shot/reverse shot taught me a particular filming method. We shot first one character saying all his lines, without moving the camera. Then we followed the same drill for the second character. Editing finished the job through putting one sequence after another. 

Editing has been a big part of my learning: I had first of all to become familiar with iMovie. I used to edit videos on Windows Movie Maker previously. I learned the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic sound, some knowledge about camera angle.

One of our biggest issue has been the mise-en-scene. In fact, our director has been directing Evil Dolls' mise-en-scene with our participation. We had to conform to the actual 'mise-en-scene', which was the office of our vice principal. We changed some things in the set, eventhough we could not transform entirely the room. 

I learnt then that every mise-en-scene has its limits. If we had had some more possibilities for the set, in other words if we had the funding and the time, we would have added some particular items that determine the genre, like for instance a gun on a table. The costumes as well do not match the genre of the film! It was supposed to be a kind of film noir and we do not really look like it...

I also learnt that the director has to consider the actors' availabilities, if they can manage to be present for the shooting or not.

In order to shoot in our vice principal's office, we had to ask for the authorisation. She gave us some advices and asked us not to change too many aspects of her office as well !

I used all this knowledge in the construction of my media product.

Actors' availability, time, funding, mise-en-scene, set, costumes, authorisation of shooting in public places...

Credits:

www.youtube.com

www.ocr.org.uk