POSTER (THE BOXER)

Evaluation

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products ?
The genre of our film is a sports film with elements of action(boxing) in it. Our boxing film compares to similar boxing films that have been made such as the kinds of shots that we have used and the mise en scene. We researched into a couple of boxing films such as the classic Rocky series and recent ones like the fighter and million dollar baby. After analysing these films we found that a lot of close ups of the fighters faces(being hit) especially in the fight scenes, low angle and high angle shots at the boxers training were used a lot in the training scenes as this is to emphaise the intensity of the training. When it came to the training scenes both films had high beat sounds in the background and this is good use of 'parallel sound' as the high beat sounds matches the intense training scenes. So with our film we used a lot close up shots and point of view shots to emphasise the boxers faces being hit. Our film consists of running and boxing training with flashbacks in between , the running in our film takes place in the running track and the streets. the street is a similar place where Rocky does his running in his film, we tried to show a similar aspect in our film. We also looked into another boxing film which was Ali and the opening is similar to ours as it switches between running and singing, our film has training and then flashbacks to boxing in which we wanted to make it more interesting. Our film is unique and different compared to other boxing films because we used the green screen in which we wanted to do some visual effects. Throughout the film we used a black background with white shawdow of the boxer doing the shadow boxing which really stood out. As the shdow boxing is going on the credits appear in which the boxer punches the credits away and this is something that has not been done before in successful films and therefore we have created something different from other boxing films.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups ?
Due to the genre of out film which is a sport action film people (audience) will establish straight away that it is a boxing film. Our film represents mainly make as it is a fighting film and this will attract mainly a male audience. These days the sport of boxing is mainly made up by male fighters but there are also female fighters that are arising and female boxers are being recognised in the sport. So our film is also representing the female audience. So our film is to attract male and female audience as many females are taking up boxing and therefore they maybe inspired by the film. So the representation of male and female boxers are positive. Although our film has no females in it, we still want the female audience to feel inspired as the stereotypes of women in the sport is that many people think that female boxers are not as good as the male boxers, they are overcoming it and showing that they are just as good .

3) What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why ?

• Closest to the Hole Productions


• Mandeville Films


• Relativity Media


• Weinstein Company, The


• Warner Bros. Pictures


• Lakeshore Entertainment


• Albert S. Ruddy Productions


• Epsilon Motion Pictures


• Columbia Pictures Corporation


• Initial Entertainment Group (IEG)


• Moonlighting Films


• Overbrook Entertainment


• Chartoff-Winkler Productions

4) Who would be the audience for our media project?

Our film is aimed at a male audience with some approach to the female audience. This is because the genre of our film is a sports action film and it is mainly men that are attracted to action or sporty film. However, because a lot of female fighters are rising in the sport and many females are taking up boxing as maybe a hobby or as an exercise for them, we want them to be inspired by the film or take an interest in it. The age of which the film is aimed at is 15-35 and this is because the film has aspects of fighting and violence and therefore, we don’t want to expose this to younger children. The age of the audience we have chosen is because people ion this age range are in physical condition of either fight professionally like boxers or taking boxing as a sport while tyhier bodies are able to withstand the training. People in the age range especially late teens of boys like sport action films and enjoy fast pace intense films. Our film is also a appealing to all ethnic as because boxing is such a huge sport it is practised by everyone from different ethnic groups. In the professional boxing sport there are fighters from all ethnicities such as black, white and Asians, and our film can be even watched by everyone who has an interest in boxing films.

Animatic

Directors Commentary

Final Video

Ideas and Discussions

We got into our groups to discuss what type of film we wanted to make and what the genre was going to be and this was the hardest part as we did not want to copy someone else work or make it look similar. So we each written down what we do outside college such as any sports etc and this gave us a good idea of what we were all into. And we found that 2 of us do boxing or have had boxing experience in the past, so the idea clicked of doing a boxing film which we thought would be really good if it was done right. So we all decided that we are going to do a boxing film and because no one else has done a boxing film before it will be something diffrent and unique. We also discussed where our location is going to be, as one of the guys from our group currently trains at a boxing gym he tried to get permission from him to use the gym but the manager did not have the rights to lease the building for our filming. So we used our local leisure centre which was Moss side sports Centre, they held boxing sessions couple times a week and this helped us alot as we needed boxing equipment such as gloves and pads and a palce to do it which was the sports hall and the leisure were able to provide it.

The Song we are using

For our video we are going to use a drum and bass type sound as this type of music is very dramatic and has high intensity. This sound will work very well with our boxing film as with many boxing films they are very intense and dramatic, so with the drum and bass sound added in the background it will create an intense atmosphere as this is our main aim of the boxing film is to create an intense, dramatic feeling. The screen shot above is from youtube and we found a drum and bass track which was not copy righted and therefore we have permission to use it. This paticular track works very well with our boxing film as it starts off with a slow pace sratching sound which creates intense feeling and then leads to a high drum beat and builds up a high beat feeling as this is what we want due to the fact that our film is going to consist of boxing training, the drum and bass sound will emphasise it more.

Production treatment for Main Task : 'The Boxer'

The Opening of a Short Film : Title - The Boxer
Genre - Sport/Drama

Duration : 2 minutes

Audience : The intended audience is mainly males aged between 15 - 30 with some appeal to females. We have aimed at this audience because it is a boxing film and many males around this age do alot of boxing and are into the sport and they will be able to relate to it and maybe learn a few things from it. As our film involves alot of running and boxing training this will attract alot of male audience and maybe some females as these days the boxing sport is growing with alot of female fighters.

Resume : Our film is about a guy who has a dream of becoming a professional boxer and battles through different obstacles that are in his way of making his dream come to reality. The first 2 minutes of our film consist of boxing training that includes press ups, sits ups, pull ups, pad work, shadow boxing and sparring that takes place in a sports hall. And from the boxing training the film will switch to running in the streets as this is a common place for boxers to do their training. We have used a variety of camera shots for the boxing training as we want to show the intesity of the boxing, we used alot of point of view shots and close ups for the sparring in which these shots get the viewer to feel part of the film. We also used high angles shots for the sparring as this shot shows how the trainer and the boxer fight with each other, the mid shot of the pull ups signify how the boxer trains with his manager. We used a long shot for the shadow boxing as we wanted to catch the shadow of the boxer which worked well and looked good.

Suggested Elements :

Performance - The Main Character (Male Boxer) running in the streets
- The Main Character (Male Boxer) training in the gym with another character (the trainer).
Costumes - Training - both character had T-shirt and track suits
Running - the main character wore hoodie and shorts, this is common among the
boxers as this is what they would wear when they do their running.
Props - Boxing Gloves, Boxing Pads, Boxing Bracket, Crash Mats
Key Locations - Sports Hall, Running Track and Streets

Recording Days :

Production - This part of the filming which includes the boxing training in the sports hall and the running in the streets would take around 14 days. In this time we need to be able to film all the common boxing excercises such as pad work and shadow boxing and then the running in the streets will take time as the camera will need to be stable as possible as we are using a car to follow the running.
Post-production - This will include all the editing and making music for the video, the editing part will take time as our film will consist of alot flashbacks and point of view shots as these are the main shots used in boxing films and we want to show the intestity of the boxing.

Budget Estimate : 15 million

Location

Today we have been researching locations for our opening scene. As we are doing a boxing film we had to look for a gym with boxing facilities. We were unable to find a proper boxing gym, due to not having permission from the owners of the building. So we had to use a sports hall in Moss Side Gym to do our training as it was the nearest to a boxing gym.

To do our boxing training we needed permission from the manager of Moss side gym.
We looked at two locations in Moss Side gym. One was a squash court which was a medium sized room with not a lot of lighting in it, the second one was a sports hall which included gymnastic and sports equipment. We chose the sports hall as this location looked more like a training gym and felt like the right location for our filming.

This room allowed us to use the lighting to emphasise the different training movements with different camera shots. For the shadow boxing we dimmed the lights to get a shadow effect which was successful and worked well. We also took advantage of the boxing brackets that were attached to the walls to do our pull ups which worked well as it shows the intensity of the workout.

We took a variety of shots of our locations, such as the squash room and the sports hall


Moss Side Leisure Centre


This was our main location for our filming of our boxing training, as this had gym facilities and sports facilities it was not hard for us to find a place for our training to establish a boxing theme.










Sports Hall


We chose this location because we tried to get permission from our local gyms with boxing facilties but unfortunately the managers did not have the rights to lease the buliding for our project. Therefore we tried our local leisure centre which was Moss Side, they allowed us to use their sports hall for our filming as Moss Side works closely with Loreto College, which helped us.







Longford Track


We chose this location because our film includes a lot of running as this is familiar with boxers. We used the track to emphasise this fact. Also we were able to get permission from the manager to use this track.

















Squash Room


This was an alternative to the Sports Hall that we used, as we felt that the Squash Room did not have a boxing feeling to it as it was plain and boring, we compared this room with the sports hall which felt that the sports hall was alot bigger, had more lighting in it which we wanted as we were able to switch off certain lights to do our shadow boxing.

Shots for running sequence

1) Tracking shot- back shot of the main character running

2) Extreme long shot to extreme close up- running past the camera

3) Long shot- front shot of whole body running

4) Medium shot- front shot of the head and top half of the body(running)

5) Close up- of the face

6) Long shot- back shot of whole body running

7) Hand held- point of view shot of the face (running)

8) Extreme long shot to close up- shot focused on the feet

Example of Animatic

We researched animatic to find out a bit more about them as we were unsure what one really was. We found the 28 days later animatic on youtube
We now know it is a series of pictures including texting showing each shot of the film with an idea of what dialogue there is going to be. This helped a lot because we now know how to do our animatic and what we need to include to make it good.

28 days later Animatic video

Million Dollar Baby Analysis (Main Task)

1. Number of shots in the sequence (approx):

In the opening scene of Million Dollar Baby there were 29 shots approximately.

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2. Different camera angles:

There were 10 different angles in the sequence.

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3. Shot types:

1) Extreme Close Up
2) Close Up
3) Medium Long Shot
4) Medium Shot
5) Low Angle Shot
6) High Angle Shot
7) Tracking Shot

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4. Use of sound, its purpose and effectiveness

We only here diegetic sound of the crowds cheering and a voice-over giving us an insight of characters helping to introduce us into the story.

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5. Comment on the mise-en-scene- did it establish the genre?

Everything is how and where you would expect a boxing fight to be, right from the clothing of the boxers to the location of the fight.

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6. Use of titles?

The titles have no effect on the film/ opening sequence as it went straight into the fight.

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7. Was continuity successfully acheived?

Yeah the cuts between shots were smooth due to the fact that it is a boxing match and the fight is centeral to the viewer.

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8. Which elements could be realisticly achieved in your film opening?

We will be able to use the sports hall as our training gym and the street could be used for running.

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9. What elements would be difficult to achieve?

The only element we will find difficult is getting a big crowd and the boxing ring.

Rocky 4 Analysis (main task)

Rocky 4 Opening Scene Video
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Rocky 4 Opening Scene Analysis

1. Number of shots in the sequence (approx):

In the opening scene of Rocky 4 there were 44 shots approximately.

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2. Different camera angles:

There were 15 different angles in the sequence.

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3. Shot types:

1) Extreme Close Up













2) Close Up












3) Medium Long Shot













4) Medium Shot












5) Low Angle Shot













6) High Angle Shot













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4. Use of sound, its purpose and effectiveness:

In the opening of the film you can hear the commenters shouting (analysing the fight) and the music reaching a cresendo which were both building the tension and the atmosphere and becomes suspenseful which allows the viewer to keep guessing whats going to happen next. The two boxing gloves (one american and the other russian) collide in a explosion which leads into the fight, you can hear the trainers and the fighters roaring which makes you feel part of the fight. The crowd start shouting and cheering which builds more tension of the fight, the sound of the punches shows the power of the fighter and in contrast to this the music (eye of the tiger) in the background relates to boxing which is important.

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5. Comment on the mise-en-scene- did it establish the genre?

The opening established the genre as two boxing gloves rise against each other, the two fighters fighting in the ring and the trainers shouting showed it was related to boxing.

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6. Use of titles?

There was not much credits at the start as it was mainly concentrating on the fight so this was not very effective.

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7. Was continuity successfully acheived?

It was successful as the two gloves led to the fight and there were no breaks in between which meant the scene continued smoothly.

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8. Which elements could be realisticly achieved in your film opening?

We will be able to use the sports hall as our training gym and the street could be used for running.

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9. What elements would be difficult to achieve?

The only element we will find difficult is getting a big crowd and the boxing ring.

Film Title : THE BOXER (Plot/Information about the 2 min opening)

Our film is about a guy who has a dream of becoming a professional boxer and battles through different obstacles that are in his way of making his dream come to reality. The first 2 minutes of our film consist of boxing training that includes press ups, sits ups, pull ups, pad work, shadow boxing and sparring that takes place in a sports hall. And from the boxing training the film will switch to running in the streets as this is a common place for boxers to do their training. We have used a variety of camera shots for the boxing training as we want to show the intesity of the boxing, we used alot of point of view shots and close ups for the sparring in which these shots get the viewer to feel part of the film. We also used high angles shots for the sparring as this shot shows how the trainer and the boxer fight with each other, the mid shot of the pull ups signify how the boxer trains with his manager. We used a long shot for the shadow boxing as we wanted to catch the shadow of the boxer which worked well and looked good.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

What did we learn about the cameras and editing software during the preliminary task?

Camera : The camera that we used was very easy and basic to use. The tripod allowed us to take steady shots without the picture being disturbed as it would of, if it was hand held. The camera was small and compact which allowed us to zoom in and get a close up for example on the trainers as the character was walking down the stairs.

Editing: Due to the fact that both the editors have done editing before, they knew the basic tools to use. So the editing process was an easy task to do.

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In the filming and editing of the project, what worked well and what we could have improved?

The handheld movement of the camera that we used worked very well as it allowed the viewer to share the point if view shot and in some way fell part of it. The shot we could have improved was when the character was walking down the stairs, the camera was hand held which meant that the picture was not steady. To improve this we could have used the tripod which would allow us to get a steady shot without the picture being disturbed.

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Give a detailed, specific example of how we have used a shot/reverse shot combination in our film?

We used a shot/reverse shot when the two characters were having a conversation. Switching the camera to show each character talking. This shot allows the viewer to see to see the characters exchange dialogues.

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Give a detailed, specific example of how we achieved match cuts during the editing process?

To make the match cut in the preliminary task the main character walked down the stairs twice, first capturing it normally. Second captured a close up of the character's feet walking down the stairs. Then the editora matched both clips together..

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How did we make sure that we didn't break the 180 degree rule? Or if we broke it, what have we learnt from this?

The first time we recorded the characters exchanging the dialogues, we slightly broke the 180 degree rule. We countered this problem by recording it again and improved it which looked a lot better as the over the shoulder shot was more clear.

Preliminary Task Video !

Preliminary Task (shot list + Dialogue)

Preliminary Task (shot list)

1) Medium long shot of character A on stairs

2) Close up of character A's feet

3) Medium shot of character A walking towards the canteen

4) Close up of the doors opening in the canteen

5) Medium shot of character A walking into the canteen

6)Medium close up of character A sitting down

7) Two shot of characters sitting down

8)Over the shoulder shot of character A

9) Over the shoulder shot of character B

10)Over the shoulder shot of character A

11)Over the shoulder shot of character B

12)Two shot of both characters

13) Medium long shot of both characters walking away

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Dialogue

Character A : " Did you bring the stuff ? "
Character B : " Yeah yeah, it wasnt easy "
Character A : " Cheers "
Character B : " No problem "

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