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

With our preliminary task, it sort of started out as something we wanted to just get out of the way. However it got us thinking about different angles to use in order to avoid continuity errors, and stay inside a time limit. This mean't we had to ensure that everything was accurate, even if the character had actually moved 2 floors, we had to think about how to make it look he had just turned a corner, and how we could express that. This lead to us standing in different positions, and using different video's as inspiration.

Furthermore, when in dialogue scenes, and that how I discovered the 180 degree rule, which in fact I had never paid attention to it in Film's. This technique has its virtues, and has huge significance in dialogue scenes. The preliminary task taught me that continuity is a big part of filming, whether your shooting a film or an interview, it is important to set the scene and establish your characters in order for the viewers to be able to smoothly follow the action, and more importantly, understand what is happening. The 180 degree rule is simply that  2 characters in a scene should always have left/right relationship to each other, to ensure that the continuity is correct.

I also learnt that I could play with the viewers imagination by ensuring that I got my continuity right through the shot, reverse shot technique. This involved making a character look at a specific direction, presumably at something of screen, and then having a second character seemingly look back at the first character, who is now off-screen. The fact that they are looking at specific directions, and that the shots are being taken from specific angles, I learnt that you can sort of make the viewers emphasize more with the character, as they sort of become them since they are sussing what they are looking at. It is a very useful technique.

The preliminary task acted as a sort of guideline, and induction to the actual final product, as I let it all rip then, and ensured that most techniques where used in order to actually represent the main character. We used tripods to make everything more steady, and ensured that we actually used our camera angle's to represent Bradley Keano, as we were aware that those first few minutes of the film, were the most crucial.

The continuity reverberated throughout our Final product, which in itself, expressed how much of an impact it had had on us. An example includes when we showed the football scene, although their were many errors, we actually did a good job through the editing to ensure that it actually all went together smoothly.

-Liban Ali (Split Movie Co-director, Producer, Co-ordinator and Actor)

Evaluation Activity 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt that in order to make a good film you don't exactly need the best of the best, but instead a good plan, and a good idea which will enable you to actually generate a good media product. Examples include the film Monster's, a film that revolved around CGI effects, only cost £500,000. That itself conveyed that the fact that the producer had a plan in mind, he would be able to actually construct this, without using the best technologies. That film made a box office over £4 million.

What this process has taught me is how to make good imaginations come to life, and how to create my innovative ideas through the aid of technologies. By this I mean the fact I was given the opportunity to work with the likes of Apple Mac's, and Panasonic HD camera's as well as the helpful stilts. This itself, lets your imagination run wild, as it gives you that leverage to actually represent scenes in an accurate manner, and to actually achieve my aims with this film.

The Mac proved to be one of the most resourceful tools

The Apple Imac was the key to the editing of the Split opening sequence through the pre-installed Adobe Premier Pro. Although it's way of style is different to that of a ''normal'' computer, this piece of technology allowed us to reach our aims.

Other pre-installed programs included the Photoshop Cs3, which I was familiar with due to my experience with the software, however, I still managed to learn more than I ever thought I would through utilizing this Computer.

The quality of this camera was superb

The Panasonic HD camera's enabled me and my crew to actually achieve what we wanted by representing the character in the opening sequence to an authentic style. This camera allowed us to adopt different techniques, and its production proved to be to a very high standard.

Although it tooks us many reattempts due to our amateurism, so it was ineivatbale, but none of those deleted footages were due to us using the camera incorrectly, more of us actually getting our representations wrong. This insinuates that this Camera was an easy tool to use, and really did aid us with constructing Split.

The way the camera captured footage's, whether quick or slow, was absolutely phenomenal, and the only regret we as a team have, was the fact that we were beaten to one of these camera's for our last scene, which mean't that, in some form, the standard dropped, although it was a significant scene.

Blogger has astounded me in many ways

This allowed me to actually justify everything that I've done,  and has been a very useful tool in expressing myself. Furthermore, it has given me that confidence since I am aware that whatever I do, I can then explain and justify and ensure that is made obvious that it was done intentionally.

It has also had an affect on me, and this process has introduced me to Blogger, which I think, will be using for the foreseeable future, in a personal manner. The way that it allows one to actually post, and construct they're on web, and the manner it records how many posts you've done in each month has astounded me. I am very fond of Blogger, and I am very grateful for this process to have introduced me to it.

Prior to this process, I had never come across this, but after the Split opening sequence, I have somewhat become an addict to this program, and how it enables you to construct your imaginations to such a level that it exceeds what you had initially imagined.

Without this technology, our Split product would most likely not have been produced to the standard it is today. It enabled us to edit this video using various effects such as the flashback monochrome, which in brief, which aided in strengthening our movie-editing skills. We utilized video transitions such as well as being able to experiment with audio effects too. Examples of this include, expontential fade, which we used to change the volumes of our sound track at specific parts within the opening sequence that were editing with the aid of this beautiful program.

Evaluation Activity 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to attract the right people, you would need to of course actually use the tag's that would be popular, or varied. An example would include, ''Gang'', or ''London'', or even ''grime'', this would ensure that we would have a much wider base of people actually viewing it, and we would get constructive feedback. Furthermore, we would still actually reach out to the audience we hoped we would.

Films that could be compared to Split would be the likes of Kidulthood, Shank etc. However, none of these films focus on the peer pressure that teenagers go through, which in today's society is a very serious issue, and that is something Split covers, and revolves around. Like the titles listed above, Split does not just focus on the actual gang-life, and the problems that can occur to a Gang, but focuses more on the individual, and how those who aspire to escape from the clutches of the gang life are held back.

The movie itself has been designed in such a way to actually inspire our audience, which is also another key reason why we have actually chosen a teenager audience. Hopefully the determination represented by Bradley Keano will be something our audience, who may be in a similar situation, can gather confidence from and use to converse themselves to actually do the right thing, and make something of themselves.

Evaluation Activity 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

Edited by Omar Abasi

Due to the content our film has, it would only be fair to say our main target audience would be the young public of today's society, as they, in some way, could relate to the film and the colloquialism used. Marketing-wise, that is a very clever move, as most of the cinematic profit, arguably, comes from this audience. Examples include Harry Potter, which aimed at teenagers, and the young public, and today it is a world-wide success. Films like Twilight and Hunger Games have followed in these steps, and have also gained recognition, and a strong fan base that an older audience most likely can't construct. This allows films to ensure that they can also have a strong form of synergy, since if they're fan base is strong, they will be able to actually sell in other aspects.

Furthermore, by aiming at teenagers we do not exclude older people, as they're are people that are interested in this, and due to the fact the content of the film covers how a young boy, who suffers from immense peer-pressure, has to make a life-changing choice which can lead to disastrous consequences reverberates what is happening in today's society. This insinuates that people will be interested in finding out this, as an older audience will be able to somewhat understand what the youth of today are going through, or could be going through. It is evident that young crime rate is soaring, and so it is an important subject which this film promises to cover accurately.

Films that could be compared to Split would be the likes of Kidulthood, Shank etc. However, none of these films focus on the peer pressure that teenagers go through, which in today's society is a very serious issue, and that is something Split covers, and revolves around. Like the titles listed above, Split does not just focus on the actual gang-life, and the problems that can occur to a Gang, but focuses more on the individual, and how those who aspire to escape from the clutches of the gang life are held back.

The movie itself has been designed in such a way to actually inspire our audience, which is also another key reason why we have actually chosen a teenager audience. Hopefully the determination represented by Bradley Keano will be something our audience, who may be in a similar situation, can gather confidence from and use to converse themselves to actually do the right thing, and make something of themselves.

The representation has been something of a catalyst, as it ensures that we pull the right audience in. Like I mentioned earlier, it was important we actually pulled the right people in, and ensured our interpretations were accurate in order to actually ensure people could relate with it. Peer pressure is a very serious issue, and therefore we needed to take care and time into actually representing it to the best of our ability. A main aspect was the representation of age, as the age was what the whole situation revolved around. Bradley Keano is a teenage boy, who is on that point where he needs to make a decision that will affect the rest of his life. Furthermore, we needed to bear in mind the area he lived in, which would be gritty and bleak, and the fact he is part of a gang expresses that his language style would change, and suit more to that of the street-talk. The walking of the character would also be a major representation, even though it could be classed as a minute aspect, it still helps construct that overall judgement of the character.

However, in order to aid us inject some more emotion in to the film, we have ensured that the character's representation differs depending on his surrounding environment, which actually reflects the mass amount of peer-pressure he is going under, and the fact he has to keep up a pretense in order to ensure that his gang friends, who have been his friends for most of his life, are satisfied he is not straying. This also insinuates that Keano actually wants to lead this other life, but can't due to the expectations he has from his friends/fellow gang members. This itself is a stepping stone in the film, and adds the emotion into the film, as it is made clear that Bradley Keano is being restrained from achieving what he wants, and the film follows how he attempts to overcome these restraints.

Evaluation 2- How our Media product represents particular social groups.

The name Split was influenced by the actual influences a teenager goes through, and how pulled to different roads of life. The name could also be interpreted as the teenager's split personality, and how they can have 2 different sides to them due to the environment they grew up in, and depending on their scenarios. Our media product mainly focuses on the life of a teenager who has grown up in Gang culture, and although he is academically gifted, he faces pressure from his peer's to not stray. The split is shown in the opening sequence, and for each place, we witness how Bradley Keano ( the main character), changes his attire, his body composure, and his walking style.

The first show is shows Bradley getting changed into his school clothing, and the low angle shot shows that he is in power, and also indicates that this is the life Bradley wants to lead, as he feels comfortable and happy with it. The fact the shot is from the reflection of a mirror indicates this is who Bradley sees himself as, and wants to see himself as, indicating that maybe this is the life he really wants, and that he is suffering from peer pressure into this Gang culture.

Our main aim of the film was to show how deadly peer pressure can be, and how it affects most of the youth's into days society, and how this is one of the reasons why Gang crime has peaked in recent times. It is mainly due to friends wanting to show off, and this has mainly evolved from peer pressure. We felt, since we were at that age, we would be able to accurately do a representation of how it would be.

As for the Gang, we represented them in a dark greyish area at the end of an alleyway, and donned them all in darkish clothing to aid with the interpretation that they were up to no good. The shot of when Bradley is walking through the alleyway is very iconic, as he moves away from the camera, in a dim-lit area, insinuating how he is walking away from the right path. Furthermore, it is made evident that he starts to walk with a limp (gangster walk), to get into the mode of his scenario, and to fit in with the Golden Gunz of Peckham.

Furthermore, we express Bradley's talent in football to express that he has something to take his frustrations out on, something that lies in between the 2 worlds, a sort of solution for his problems.

Sergio Aguero escaped from the crime life

I would compare Bradley Keano to the likes of Manchester City starlet Sergio Aguero, who was born in the rough streets of Argentina. Crime rates were soaring, and it was difficult to make something of yourself. He since managed to substitute the sounds of gunshots for the cheers of his home fans, and is now one of the most talented footballing youngster in the world.

Although Bradley Keano excels academically, it would be hard for him to go down that path due to the pressure he would receive, and we have acknowledged that we couldn't make it look easy. Football however is a language everyone speaks, and so he could actually make it as a footballer without getting as much hassle from friends, which is a more realistic move.

This character from Kidulthood made the wrong choice

Trevor from Kidulthood is one of our main sources of inspirations. We tried to look on his characters personality and attributes, and attempt to put them in our character, to express what he Gang life expects from you.

This involved how they walked, how they stood, they're attire which consisted of urban-styled clothing that had a dark colour.

It was important we had characters like this to draw inspiration from in order to try and ensure that we got our representations right.

Alterations

Due to our elected Group leader, Nile O-mealy Newell's unexpected departure, we were in a mess due to the actuality he was the main character, and we had unfinished shootings. We decided to start a new film, and whilst we were constructing this new film, we realized we did'nt exactly need Nile to finish our initial film. Therefore we wasted time in actually finishing the evaluation earlier than we could have, had we not switched ideas.