Being director I had to oversee all sections of the film. This included story boarding and animatics, making editing decisions such as timing of the credits, music supervision and most importantly making sure our opening sequence was

presented as best as we could.

I used many creative solutions throughout the process so we would end up with a result worthy of our abilities. I acted as a link that the group could rely on for,

technical and creative solutions I visualised our plot and how the film may of been seen and who our target market was this was so to make every detail tended to. I worked on and expanded a vision for the final product, and established a realistic

aim for us to reach. selecting the correct locations for the film was essential. This is because of our Film being a period drama we didn’t want to show any signs of it

being a film inspired by the nineteen sixties we wanted more of a filmed in the 60s feel. The camera, sound, lighting, design and special effects all had to be considered to give it as much of a sixties feel as possible. I had absolute

commitment and a passion for our ‘Cry To Me Cindy’ film, we were constantly making decisions, but it was important for me to make sure that everyone's

thoughts and opinions were heard and considered.

Through my blog journey I have gained so much knowledge about the forms and conventions of ‘real media products’ that we have continuously been monitoring the ways in which the

professionals capture our target market and attempted to mirror this.

Our media product develops, uses and challenges the conventions of real media product in many ways. One being

our shot choices construct the audience to become a character itself. I think the idea of our opening sequence and

the concept behind the shot choices, lighting, costume, angles, sounds, ect... help to result in the conventional ideas

of an independent film opening however unlike the other case studies, we’ve taken a much more realistic approach.

Attempting to question this preconceived idea of the modelling industry, striping the glamour and questioning the

fascination.

I think the idea of our opening titles and the notion behind the plot intention and concepts such as the mirror shot, turning on of the lights and the many low angle shots, develop and improve traditional ideas and conventions of an opening sequence. This is because the story-

line is faintly and cunningly planned out yet keeps the audience wanting more.

One way which the product challenges the conventions of real media products is by building the main characters background from the start to show the viewers what kind of a film it would be and what the main

issues are within the film such as the smoking and alcohol.

It challenges real media products that are commercially produced with simple effects and editing tricks. It challenges commercially produced products as our media product features real social issues which occur

throughout society on a daily basis. One of the main issues throughout the film is the use of alcohol, drugs and peoples physical appearance.

These were continually planted throughout the product to create a sufficient effect for what people were really like within the sixties era.

The beginning shot shows our main character our protagonist. This reflects the forms and conventions of real 1960s films, such as ‘The Graduate’ and ‘Breakfast At Tiffanies’. This first establishing shot is from an extreme high angle or birds eye view, this gives the audience a

voyeuristic approach giving us the impression we are guarding and protecting the young innocent girl.

This develops the conventions as in products such as ‘The Graduate’ the main character faces the camera straight on evident that we as the audience are being addressed as a character yet in our

product we want the audience to connect with Cindy but have more of a detached experience therefore we can form our own opinions of the characters.

Now after the beginning establishing shots, Cindy turns the light on above her head. The shot pans up with her movements as this happens. This is to craft a subtle signifier that the light switch is a metaphor for her life. Before she reaches the switch she stumbles around therefore showing delicately that this isn’t going to be an easy to watch film.

Cindy forms a bridge like contour with her feet as she stamps down. This shot is a close up extreme low shot that captures Cindy stamping her foot down. This burst of vigour

declares many questions about our character. Also the bridge-like formations demonstrates this symbol of equality or construction. However beneath the foundations

of the structure lies the destructive source of her life. The suggestive illegal substance was skilfully positioned here to present the idea of

possible failure or destruction of Cindy’s structure.

Our media project symbolizes every young teenage girl faced with growing up in a complex and complicated world. For centuries women have had a certain appearance and have always been under pressure. As far back as the stone age women have been given a certain social standing of being this

goddess like being, who was never equal to man. The 1960s was a break of freedom an era of rebellion. The time allowed for a younger generation to have a voice and experiment with a new way of life.

Women were now aloud to vote freely, contraception was introduced and women were now more equal than ever before.

To a certain extent in today’s society there are aspects of the younger generation being free and ready to experiment. I think it was important for us to express the under-side of the sixties era as well as being

able to reflect what was apparent then as well as making it relevant to the younger generation of today.

Drinking alcohol is one of the main issues within my media product as it was very much part of the everyday person’s life back in the nineteen sixties mainly by the younger members of society. The use of alcohol represents the younger generation’s social group as it is firmly fixed within society and is mainly

used to have a good time and to just forget your problems. By using the alcohol as an important issue the younger audience can connect with the film as although it is set in the sixties the things that were happening then are still happening today. It engages the younger audience as they can see what they

used to do and realise that things haven’t changed that much but it is being done for different reasons. By using these topics to create a link between our target audience and the film they can start to see

where the stereotypical connotations are such as all young people drink, smoke, go out to parties all the time and are obsessed with making sure they’re physical appearance is good. Another connotation

which is connected the target audience is that everyone believes that all young people do drugs and drink alcohol which is shown in our media product.

The target audience for my media product is fifteen to twenty year olds. This is because my product features many different topics which this audience can relate to with things such as

alcohol and drug use as it is a very common occurrence within these young people’s lives in the twenty first century. By having

set the target audience as fifteen to twenty year olds I could gain feedback from people of this age group as many of my friends

are within this target audience or alternatively use other pupils from my school to gain feedback on my product.

However I also feel an older generation of people who remember the swinging sixties as a part of their growing up, may

too enjoy it as I feel it would be the perfect link between them and the modern generation.

From the research that we conducted I have found some suitable media institutions that could potentially distribute my product. Such as working title two.

In 1999, Bevan and Fellner opened an additional conglomerate entitled Working Title 2 Productions, though frequently known as WT2 is an added feature to the

original ‘Working Title’ company. The corporation is an independent film production division managed by Natascha Wharton, and has produced films for instance, Billy

Elliot, Shaun of the Dead and The Calcium Kid.These films are all made to suit specific audiences, the independent style films; films that were made to tell a story that wasn’t quite to everybody’s taste. Therefore they

were never created to be a blockbuster. Much like our ‘Cry To Me Cindy’ it was never intended for a mass market, nor to generate certain percentages of money.

Our film was intended to be a hard-hitting reality of the truths of a generation that was often glamorized that can be mirrored within society today, and the genuine

suffering youth can go through. Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel Four

Television Corporation. They support the funding of independent films, such as the Merchant-Ivory docudrama The Courtesans of Bombay. The company has been

responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. Such films include, ‘The Iron Lady’, ‘This Is England’ and ‘The Inbetweeners’.

Film4 Productions are celebrated for producing high quality, successful, independent British creations. ‘The Inbetweeners’ being on of their

major achievements On its first day of release, ‘The Inbetweeners’ Movie grossed over £2.5

million in 409 cinemas. The film then went on to set a new record for the most successful opening weekend ever achieved by a comedy film in the UK, outdoing ‘Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason’ and ‘The Hangover Part II’ after earning £13,200,000. It retained its number 1 position in the UK

film charts for 4 weeks. As of November 20, 2011, the film's total boxoffice gross is £45,028,695.

This kind of Production Company would be valuable as they have produced many genres but also focus on inspiring and challenging

watches. Such as ‘Trainspotting’ about heroine addicts and economical depression; ‘This Is England’ a period drama set in the 80s about

subcultures and finally ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ about adventure and crime. These films that Film4 Production Company has created perfectly

replicate everything we want to embody within our film.

Another media institution that would be good for “Cry to me Cindy” to be distributed on would be YouTube as

3GProductions could release behind the scenes footage, competitions or extracts from the film. By using YouTube as a media institution it would save on cost as it is a free service

which is proven effective by many of the big blockbuster films to smaller budget films such as ours. YouTube is used millions of times a day so is a very popular website which could really be used to promote and gain the film much

needed exposure so it reaches as many people as possible.

• The varied pace keeps you on the edge of your seat. The establishing shots are held much longer than those after the light symbol has been switched on. The influential scene is reliant of the pace of shots. This is because it takes the

audience on a journey through the brain of our character Cindy. When she awakes we are automatically thrown onto the rollercoaster of her life. The

commencing decisions she has to make are portrayed and staged through the impulsive movement of camera and hasty cuts.

• The mirror metaphor shows Cindy as a normal girl allows the audience to relate to the character. The mirror gives Cindy the chance to portray her as the audience. We all automatically judge the young girl, yet we tried to come up

with a way of allowing the audience to delay a critical judgement and to see if we could get a rhetorical based relationship effect.

• Switching on the light at the beginning shows that there is more to come if you keep watching. It’s almost a drawing you in impact, this pull of light always

attracts an audience. It’s like an alarm within us telling us we should stay awake to observe and witness this girls life and adventures.

When we first begun we felt like we had to show more than we needed to. The opening titles should be just a taster of what the film will be. However our initial idea with the party needed to be changed as there was too much about the character and story given away unsubtly. We wanted the titles to be dramatic but subtly signify the

changes of youth exposed and neglected by society especially looking at the modelling world.

I think forms and conventions of a ‘Real Media Product’ opening sequence have been carefully and strictly explored and examined.

Film work in general such as continuity was such a hard concept to manage however I feel after hours of detailed scrutiny we managed to master the importance and skills

to make sure our opening sequence was technically as high quality as expected. Once more I learnt about through the process of constructing my product was to ensure that we got different angles for the same shot so the product could have a

good choice of shots to choose from so that it could get the best footage that represented subtle signifiers.

Also through the process of creating our media product I have learnt many different things about technology. One of the things that I have

learnt about is that you can use extremely simple techniques or methods to make the simplest of shots look professional by just

adjusting the positioning of the camera. Things like this helped me to develop my product to the high level that I believe it is with good camera skills and approach that I learnt during the construction

process. Another thing that I have learnt to do with technology is that there are many different ways of getting around issues. I learnt this whilst trying to edit a sound file to ensure that the vocals were quieter as I couldn’t do it in the current program ‘premiere’ so had to open it in

‘Sound-booth’ and there I completed what I wanted to do by teaching myself through the new technology. By learning this

important lesson it helped me throughout the construction process to overcome different software difficulties.