Introduction: For our media coursework, we had to plan and create an opening scene which would best fit

it our target audience Our team was made up of Jayesh, Shyam, Mark and I, and we had we decided to create our own teen comedy.

Pre-Production Planning: We had many different aspects to cover in our opening scene for to create a teen comedy Including the appropriate camera shots where necessary, Speeds of clips, varying transitions or sounds used to add more effect/emphasis to the entire scene or a specific part of it. As a team, we talked in detail about what should/should not be used in our opening sequence; this was very beneficial for us as we got to answer to some of the key areas of creating an opening sequence such as

More Planning: In our planning we had to basically map out our entire opening sequence, explaining why each camera shot would be used and why they were used. I think that our storyboards lay out our opening sequence shot by shot very effectively and it is also neatly laid out, showing how, when and why the shot was used.

Production Timeline: Our planning consisted of our script, camera shot list, storyboards and synopsis and any other word document (if forgotten any). After laying down the groundwork for our teen comedy we created online surveys for teen dramas/comedies. It also includes drama as thats what we did for our PT, we wanted to compare them both and see what the results were. Created/ edited our rough cut and then got feedback on it, after receiving appropriate feedback from enough people, we began editing for our final cut.

Planning and Production: Whilst filming: close up of Jayeshs face as everyone walks around him, the pan of the classroom showing how bored each student is. The sequence had to be 2-3 minutes long however our cut was only about 1minute 20s long, because we had to speed up and shorten each clip to meet teen comedy conventions which I will talk about later.

Research: For research, we had to analyse at least 4 (1 each) teen comedy opening sequences and see how m-e-s, sound, editing and camera were used to create a professional opening sequence Doing this also helped us gain little ideas for our own sequence.

Target Audience: After researching different teen comedies, we moved on to creating a target audience profile. This allowed us to see if teens preferred super-funny opening sequences, or if they preferred more subtle comedy which wasnt over the top. [End] our guesses of what teens like would be pretty accurate as we are teens however the target audience profile is more evident.

Conventions: The 3 main conventions we used were Face paced editing, rock music and a school setting Nearly all teen comedies we researched used these factors the most and we thought that we should use them too. We didnt use dark lighting in any scene as it may represent the main character as evil which is not our aim. The main character of a teen comedy is typically very predictable so dark lighting did not fit in at all Slow music not used because we are not trying to build tension. Our scenes are supposed to be very short.

Feedback: Feedback gained after we finished our rough cut and it was mostly positive, however we did focus on the criticism as it would help us improve our work. We received lots of positive feedback on the voiceover used and the main character in general so we knew that we didnt have to edit those parts again.

Real Media Products: There are definitely similarities in our media product compared to real media product s, the differences however were on purpose simply to keep our opening sequence unique from any other sequence. We used short voice overs in order to give the audience small chunks of information, we thought that this would be very effective as our target audience would get bored of listening to long pieces of information Phrases which the audience can relate to were used, making the situation more comfortable. Focussed on a few techniques instead of using a lot just because its simpler. Instead of keep the camera on one main character, we decided to include more personalities within the classroom. Stereotypes: Certain stereotypes were used in our sequence such as the typical bully, wearing a hoody and headphones in class we can see that he has no respect for the teacher or the dress code whatsoever.

Comparison: Both media products use establishing shots to show the school However our main character is standing still and wearing formal clothes, he is not trying to attract attention towards himself The character in 21 Jump Street is trying to blend in by wearing casual clothing.

Representation: Both genders used so both are comfortable watching the sequence and can relate to it somehow. Character with different races are used in the sequence showing that each race is equal enough to work together, however the Asians may seem like a better race as the main character is Asian and portrayed as smart.

Distributors: Universal could fund our project easily and are very strong distributors so we may have an increased audience.

Target Audience: Us teens have up-to-date knowledge of the current stereotypes are what age groups can be engaged by them Main character is male, so our second target audience would be teenage males in specific, as they might be able to relate to it a bit better The age rating would be around 15+, this is because average teen comedies are rated at mid-teens at 15 or over. This is also when teens become more aware of stereotypes.

Appealing to Target Audience: We decided to make a poster because it would fully appeal to our entire audience, teenagers, as our audience can see a lot already from our poster without having to read much, its quicker, easier and more fun therefore engaging our audience before they have seen our opening sequence.

Our Media Product Poster: No specific date is given, Summer 2013 is just referring to the entire summer holidays, the longest British holiday of the school year, this is when our media product would be viewed the most by our target audience Our main character is wearing his formal clothes, holding his briefcase and waving to someone. However as he is the only person in the shot we can assume that nobody is actually waving back at him. This can show the audience that hes quite lonely

Attracting Audience: The pan of the room reveals all the students and their behaviour; we can see some students falling asleep or with their heads down and hoods up.

Technology: IMovie used to create our rough and final cuts from the preliminary up to the final During the preliminary I gained a lot of useful knowledge on editing, which was used to enhance our final, which is a good side effect. We used a Panasonic HD camera, however we couldnt do everything we wanted with it like changing the focus Did the best we could with the technology that we had.

Improvements: I was the director and I was in charge of the camera, 1 way I could have improved my camera skills is by holding it more steadily when we did not have access to a tripod. We did improve completely by reshooting with a tripod.

Final: Had to do a lot of specific research, so Ive become more accurate in terms of scanning and selecting data More organised when it comes to preparations for filming, editing and timing. As we had to pre-prepare our locations and make sure that we werent interrupted during shooting. Handling equipment: all group members had to carry around the equipment whether it was across the corridor or down the street, weve become more careful when handling things now.