Update on filming

Day one of filming was successful because we had learnt from previous mistakes so that the process was much quicker than it was originally planned. As well as this I am happy that we stuck to the shot list to ensure that we didn't get carried away.
However, after initial editing we discovered that some shots cut the character out of frame slightly which means that it resulted in an unprofessional finish. As well as this, we think we have made our props too subtle and that we should have made the association with the map being a map of London (i.e. where the character is travelling to) more obvious. Therefore, these are things to consider and alter when we do our re-shooting.

In the next stage of filming we will be visiting a new location of a train station which will take place on Thursday 28th February. We have decided to add more to the shot list within this location because we are worried that we will not have enough content. Therefore, at the beginning of the train station scene we will add a long shot of man walking towards camera, with briefcase and smoking cigarette. Then close up of his face as he takes a toke, then a close up of his shoe as he stubs it out and walks out of the frame. We then have a medium shot of the ticket barriers and watch him walk through them and onto the platform.

Horse and Hound analysis

Horse & hound analysis from louaw

Evidence of props

Justification of props/location/character

Magazine Industry Research

We have been asked to research the following and present to the class in a discussion:

"Investigate and make notes on...
Magazine Industry

• How is it changing/evolving?
• What does the future hold?

Audience and Institutions

• How do audiences benefit from changes in the magazine industry?
• What challenges are magazines (and publishers) facing?

New Media Technologies

• How are NMTs impacting on the Magazine Industry?

Further to this, you need to find and analyse an article that comments on the current or potential future state of the Magazine Industry.

Investigate and analyse the article:

• Source?
• Who write it?
• What is the line of argument?
• Key quote? - This needs to be carefully critiqued.
• How does it link to the wider concepts in the unit and your case study "

The magazine industry

• The magazine industry has evolved into something that is much more digital. However, I don't think that this means they won't be surviving. This is because from the number of articles that I have read on the topic suggest that the number of iPad subscriptions have increased a large amount over recent years, meaning that they are making up for lost sales within the physical magazine sales.
• I also think that the magazine industry is evolving less than you would imagine. This is because people still enjoy having a physical copy of a magazine, and this could be due to a number of reasons e.g. bright colours and images being attractive to the eye when walking through a shop, or the fact that the glossy pages provide a small piece of luxury every week for an individual i.e. it is seen as a 'treat'. 
• In the future, I think the magazine industry will need to change to adapt to these new iPad dominated industries, however this is not a new development because all industries are constantly needing to develop all the time because audiences change, technologies change etc.

The audience  

• Audiences will benefit from these changes to the magazine industry because it doesn't allow for the audience to experience monotony. This means that they are constantly being interested by the industry which may mean that sales will either stay the same or increase. 
• Magazines are facing the challenge of keeping the audience interested, when the magazine is often seen as a 'dying trade'. Therefore, they are having to work very hard to keep up with the times to ensure that their readers don't get bored.

New Media Technologies

• New media technologies have helped the magazine industry to evolve, because consumers are leaning towards these technologies more and more i.e. iPads are commonly used for everything such as banking to shopping. Therefore, due to the fact that consumers are requesting commercial goods to be solely available in one place, the magazine industry are able to adapt to this and use this as a tool to continue surviving.

Analysis of a magazine article

The following link is an article from The Economist about the changes that are being made to the magazine industry over time:
http://www.economist.com/node/21556635

About The Economist

1. the magazine is 167 years old
2. In 2011, weekly circulation of the magazine rose by 11% (up to 200,000 people)
3. Global circulation of 1.5 million per year, with an increase of 3.7% in 2012
4. There are still more print copies being sold (1.487 million copies) than digital copies (100,000 copies)

-The reason for this maintenance of sales of physical copies is due to the target audience. This is because the target audience for The Economist is businessmen, so they would read this magazine on the tube/train on the way into work. Therefore, as there is no wifi on the underground, businessmen still require a physical copy to read.

Line of argument within article

1. Magazines are still surviving and will be for the foreseeable future.
2. the reason for this survival is an increase in the reliance on advertising for funding
3. niche magazines seem to be doing better than large magazines because there is more loyalty of readers
4. people still like having a physical magazine and iPad sales have increased more than web because it "feels more like a magazine". 

Key quotation from article
"Making money in news means publishing either the cheap kind that attracts a very large audience, & making money from ads, or the expensive kind that is critical to a small audience, & making money from subscriptions."
-I think that this quotation is mainly an exact and likely way of summing up the current state of the magazine industry. However, I have asked myself the question- "I won't read magazines such as Vogue due to the lack of actual content (i.e. there are too many ads, not enough editing) so why are they the type of magazine that are said to be surviving?" Therefore, this question makes me think that this quotation isn't as exact as I originally thought.

New storyboard

New Storyboard from louaw

More research...

Due to the changes to our opening sequence, we decided that more research into a few key areas would be necessary so that we ensured not to make the same mistakes as earlier on in the task. Therefore, Victoria Louise carried out research into lighting, as this was an area that all of us felt we were not very knowledgeable on previously.

Print screen of VL's research

As well as this, Scott completed research into an opening sequence that appeared similar to the idea of which we have come up with our new opening sequence. We felt this was necessary so that we could get an insight into some typical shots used in an action thriller.

Job roles

To aid our coursework, we decided that our work would make progress sooner if we all had individual job roles. Therefore, we decided on the following roles:

Louise-Leader/organiser 

Scott-Editor

Victoria Louise- Research

We chose these roles because naturally, I am a good leader and like to be extremely organised. As well as this, during the continuity task Scott proved himself to be passionate about editing and seemed more knowledgeable about it than Victoria Louise and I. Also, Victoria Louise had shown from the start that she was very thorough with research so we all decided she would work well being in charge of this (although we will all contribute).  

New shot list, plot, props and plan

Shot list/ plot

DAY 1 OF FILMING- Sunday 10th Feb '13

• (internal location-office) Medium-long shot of male character in room- this establishes the character and allows audience to familiarise.
• Over the shoulder shot of man at desk looking down and flicking through pages of notes within a file
• Close up of suspect's face (within the pages)
• Tilt left to close up of the male's hand on a gun and his grip tightens
• Close up of phone and man picks up and takes out of frame
• Close up of mans face as he talks and hangs up
• Medium shot from phone position as it rings and he picks up
• Close up of mans face*
• Medium shot from end of table- he stands and puts gun in coat pocket. Puts notebook in satchel and walks out of frame

*as we could not agree on which type of shot to use, we will shoot both and then decide which one creates a better affect.

DAY 2 OF FILMING-Monday 11th Feb '13

• (external location-train station) Long shot of man with the camera positioned from the opposite platform.
• Medium shot of man walking onto train (camera positioned facing the train-now from same platform)- he turns once on the train and looks into camera as doors close. He smirks

Props

1. gun
2. folder containing/with:

-Confidential stamp
-Russian sickle
-photograph of prince william

1. vodka
2. phone
3. pages of notes
4. map of london
5. briefcase

Change to our coursework

Both our group and our teachers felt that our current opening sequence was too complex to carry out with a high degree of accuracy and yet still make it look professional, so we completely changed our idea and have come up with a new storyline, which we believe is more simple yet could be carried out better.

Reasons for props etc.

Why these props?

We decided to use a syringe as our weapon of choice because it creates a medicinal/hospital impression on the audience to suggest that this killing is calculated and meticulous and not just the cliche gun/knife crime. This impression is also reinforced by the use of costume, because the killer wears a lab coat which is symbolic of a doctor figure, i.e. somebody who is supposed to be safe and actually he is the most dangerous.

Why this location?

We chose to do our filming in an old, dingy garage. This is because it it creates a tense atmosphere for the audience so that they understand something bad is happening. As well as this the lighting is naturally dim so created the impression that we wanted to make. As well as this our external location was an alley way because this is a typically dangerous place where people have to be careful. Therefore, it was perfect for the injection of the character.