We chose a subject that is very rarely focused on in real media products and tried to challenge the widely held belief that the homeless are there because they deserve it. We wanted to portray John Smith, the tramp, as a victim of economic failure who manages to severely change his financial position and even his social class. We made the main character someone who is not perfect or even likable or attractive, because the reason for the storyline is to raise an awareness of the issues expressed rather than create a dramatic hero who is always right. The relativity to real life is key and so we victimised every main character through each other’s actions.
John Smith represents both a lower middle class man who works in an office, struggles to find money and spends his time with his co-workers, but also a very solitary man who has contact with as few people as possible. The main focus is on the middle class and below, who don’t receive much voice or notice but are the main body of our society.
The best suited distributer for this media product is the BBC because they are likely to take an interest in a drama that is trying to raise awareness of certain issues. The BBC distributes a huge variety of media products and government input places a focus on society rather than self interest.
The audience for this product would be a mixture of people who enjoy film dramas and those who are interested in the ideologies behind and ideas involved with this film. The Big Issue is a contemplative film rather than a thrilling one and seeks to provide knowledge of important, however rarely addressed, societal problems.
“The Big Issue” appeals to a charitable audience because of the ideologies and beliefs behind it, such as: it may be the fault of the homeless man that he is homeless, but he has been treated unfairly and deserves help no less than the rest of us. The random kid at the beginning of the film, in the opening, was there for two reasons. He was there so that a swap between amateur filming and normal video could be made which added a different feel and some more life to the picture. He was also there to victimize the tramp (Smith) even more and to press in the sympathy created when the car hits the tramp.
Most of the skills used in the making of this opening were learnt during the process of creating it. I have learnt that it takes a lot of time and patience to complete and many times I must backtrack and change my mind. Also, it is very hard to accomplish the idea that was in my head at the start of the project and I find that my limited knowledge about the equipment we used stopped me from executing my objectives effectively. I found that it is unwise to attempt a scene in the dark without the experience or equipment to do so properly and that it would have been more effective, and possibly more efficient, to film while it was light and edit the brightness and colouring to make it look dark. The picture we achieved was of an inhibiting quality and once this was realised it was too late to go back.
Since the preliminary task I have gained some valuable experience that helped me with the final product. When filming clips it is possible to use loads of film for even small clips to make sure everything that is needed is included. This can be cut anywhere so that the clips start and finish correctly and can be split in half and filled with another segment. When faced with the final task my group and I were faced with more problems, all of which we did not overcome, such as the poor quality image. We did, however, find that using the technology was faster and we had more time to explore various options before making decisions about edits. Although we had explored when we made the preliminary video we were still using a “trial and error” technique and working within the limits of the programs available.
The video, as I have already mentioned, lacked image quality but it the content itself was not as disappointing. At the start of the scene there is a smooth transition between the “Cherwell Media Production” slide and the first clip, in terms of image, because the black fades into the first clip. This was used for a few other shots when a “jumpy” sequence was not desired, for example: when there is a face off between car and tramp the shots cut quickly to fit with the audio track and as the final build up of tension before the climax. Another transition we used was superimposing the end of one clip with the start of another to keep it from being too sudden. The few times we used it we made sure it did not encompass too much of each slide because they were so short.
When dealing with the audio transitions we automated the volume levels so that they were not out of place and sounded smooth. We used a sudden change in audio between the first two slides which removed the “Cherwell Media Production” slide from importance, in the plot, more clearly. For the clips of amateur video we kept the original audio but for the others we had to turn down the volume and replace the sound (such as footsteps) with sound that was recorded separately in an attempt to make the switch clear. This and the shaking to steady camera movement was what did this, but the similarity of the image between the two styles of filming made it less clear.
The various car sounds and panning of the audio gave the scene a better sense of realism but the program we used stopped us from quantizing the audio with the video exactly as we desired. This is most obvious at the point where the tramp is staring at the car driving towards him for the last time and the string “stabs” in the soundtrack did not fit properly. More should have been done to remedy this. It is one of the weakest points of the film, in terms of editing, especially since it occurred at the climax of the action.
The most effective points during the scene are: the stepping off of the pavement that switches between amateur video and normal viewing using match on action, the zoom out of the tramp at the end while a heartbeat can be heard to show that he is still alive and when the dramatic music kicks in to introduce the credits. These are my favorite moments in the scene but also the ones I enjoyed working with the most.
