My Evaluation
Q1. In what ways does you film opening use, develop or challenge forms and convections of existing film genres?
Answer. My film is more of a chick flick. I saw various movies before I started making my own opening sequence. I had to do my research work. A lot of directors and producers like Florien Heckle, Gary Marshal and Catherine Hardwicke were my ideal. I tried to copy their ideas and merge them up with mine so that I could come up with something similar yet new. The genre which existed in my film was romance and comedy. It’s just the opening sequence hence not everybody will be able to get an idea of it but still one does get a hint.
Q2. How does your film opening represent a particular movie genre?
Answer. The movie I am working on is called “Live to shop OR shop to live “. Just like its name suggests, it is about crave and craze for shopping. It is a chick flick.
As I am still working on it, a lot of research work had to be done. I watched many chick flicks to get a good idea of how to go about with my opening sequence. I wanted my film opening to be a little different though. I chose the song “moves like jagger” by MAROON 5. It’s a hip song and I love its melody too. The main thing that represents the genre of the movie is is the back ground music, the dresses and the way the character of a shopaholic is represented. Just when the movie starts a character is established. This is played by me myself (ANOSHEH ASIF). Its about a girl who studies in one of the most prestigious schools of the city. She does not know what to wear even though her wardrobe is full of latest clothes and accessories. She still thinks that she needs to shop more. The acting, the basic idea, the colors, the artificial soft lighting and the back ground music is used to make the clip seem like a chick flick. The genre is more of a romantic and comedy one as one can see that Anosheh wants to look her best. She could shop till she drops. The male character would not be much of a major role in the movie which is why I did not introduce him in the opening sequence of my film BUT still obviously when there is a chick flick, a charmer shown is a must for whom the girl would give up all she has. It’s for the audience to watch the movie and see for themselves 
Q3. Who would be the audience for your film?
Answer. Media is for everybody. That is what I believe in. Your product must be accepted by all but still I’m open to critics: P
My film here is more of a chick flick as ihave already mentioned before. Im my opinion , everybody would like to watch it as it is acceptable for the children to watch it too because it does not contain any material like nudity or terrorism. It will always eb a good time pass for the adults too but what I personally think is that the female audience would like it more. This is because the female audience can understand the depth of feelings and emotions of other girls. The know how girls can compromise over stuff and let go of whatever they have for the love of their life.
*laughs* THE SHOPPING FREAKS OUT THERE WOULD LOVE IT.
Q4. How did you target/address your target audience?
Answer. When you’re making the film, your main aim should be to target the right audience because if you fail that that then there is no use of making the film. Whether to what sort of an audience? That’s all upon you to decide. The three things that came into my mind were whether:
a) What to produce?
b) How to produce? And;
c) For whom to produce?
For me, the female audience was my major target along with the teenagers. In my opinion chick flicks leave behind more of an impact on the girls. To be honest, when I started working on this project, I had nothing in my mind. The cast was nowhere in my mind therefore I decided to work in it myself because I thought I could put my idea into reality with more ease. I played the main role keeping in mind how the audience would have like to watch it and that’s how I targeted them. From the clothes, to the set, to props, to famous bands to flashy sexy colors! When making it, what I had in my mind was that I will make such a thing which I would have liked to see if I was out there sitting and watching a film. I wanted the female audience so much into it that they would leave their house hold chores to watch it even for the 100th time: P
Q5. What kind of media institution might distribute your film and why?
Answer. An institution is a company that distributes a media product for the audience. A film is firstly distributes nationally and internationally and then it comes to the local cinemas and is sold on DVDS. For the retail and distribution of my movie I had to do a lot of research work about the companies which do the task of distribution. A few of them were BBC, The Uk film council, Film 4 and Vertigo Films.
The UK Films council has produced/distributed more than 900 films. Those were brilliant films which included short films and featured films too. Their goal is to create a global centre for films amongst the world’s competitive industry. They support a wider audience. They target a wide variety of audience and also support upcoming directors.
BBC on the second hand is a world wide renound institution which gives a platform for new talent to come and showcase their skills.
Vertigo Films on the third hand is a UK biased media company which encourages commercially driven independent cinema. They encourage the use of new technology. They pay attension to budgets. The care about the audience and are authentic to what is trying to be represented.
Film 4 Lastly, has a wide range of British Biased films and they also have international films that come from all over the world. They also produce the films. One of their productions is the famous award winning film by Shone Meadowy called” This is England” Film 4 is also partenered with the “ wrap x Fimls” where they challenge British and International media. They look into the matters of creating films on a lower budget with the intension of expanding the audience.
I would consider approaching all of the above mentioned companies to distribute my film and look into the budget matters. This is because according to my research they are very well know all around UK and the world as large too. They would distribute my film because they are open to new talent. They would definitely find my work interesting and also worth investing over not only now but in the future too.
Q6 What have you learnt about technologies form the process of constructing your film opening?
Answer. I being an amateur director/producer have learnt a lot about various techniques, terms and technologies. I got to polish my skills while working over my project. I had to watch a lot of film openings of the same criteria and that’s how I got to learn more. It wasn’t as easy as I used to think over it while watching the films. I used to think that it’s just a good camera and a good editing program which is required to make a movie but BOY I WAS SO WRONG! I learnt different camera movements, got to know about various editing software, types of sounds, from camera movements to angels to the color management. EVERYTHING was so new to me. Everything was technical yet easy. I used the windows movie make to edit my clip. What I learnt is that one has to think beyond measures and change the ideas into reality. I had to face problems too. I had to edit my video a couple of times and all my handwork used to do down the drain due to load shedding and unsaved work. HAHAHA. It required a lot of patience. I gained patience I must say: P
Q7. What do you feel you have learnt from making the preliminary task to making a film opening?
It was a great experience. I got to learn a lot. From camera movements to shots to lighting to editing to various stuff. You name it and you have it. The preliminary task was initially hard. I still had a lot of research work to do, I still am doing it. I watched a lot of movies during my project and read about a lot of famous specialized people of the industry. My media teacher Mr. Shehbaz provided me with various slide shows and presentations. Hence I had a lot of material to go through and learn about. I learnt that a lot of patience, hard work and skills are required to make a film. TEAM WORK IS A MUST. When I made “The Blind Date”, I had such a wonderful experience. My friends, Arslan and Farsam were there to support me through out. We had such silly hilarious moments while shooting it. We used to go all silly when we used to make it. We cracked jokes, made fun of each other but still ended up working in a serious manner when it came to IT-IS-HIGH-TIME-WE –GET-SERIOUS-ABOUT–MY-PROJECT: P. It was more of a fusion of our ideas. They helped me out a lot. Plus, I learnt how to handle a camera and how to move about while shooting a video. The shot reverse shot was something very new for me as I had never noticed such a thing. I had researched over three main movies namely, the batman, Ironman, etc. I also wrote my analysis on them which you would be able to see on my blog. In my final opening sequence I had to roam about in the city of Lahore to capture the right shots. I had to merge them up and edit them where as in the preliminary task I made the video at my place.
Overall, I learnt quiet a lot. I learnt that it is not just a piece of cake. Everybody in the media industry does a lot of hardowrk to entertain their views out there. Hats off to them!!!
Plus, I hope that people like my work to J
