Internship in Pyramid Studios

As AS level Media students, we still hadn’t gained experience sufficient enough to be called ‘Media literate’. We had just begun applying the filming techniques we had learnt theoretically in class on our final projects and were supposed to start working on their opening titles. We were fully aware of the fact that the titles were to be animated as done in films, but had been having quite difficulty in grasping the concepts of such a practical task.

Sir Zaman, our school’s A-level media teacher perhaps realized this and arranged an internship program for us to understand as to how a Media industry operates and the work involved in production of significant media products like television ads, promo material for singers and yet to be released dramas. It was to start from the 22^nd of December, 2010 and we had to attend a meeting with the chair of Interflow-a dominant Media Industry of Pakistan mainly working on the management and airing of such products.

The meeting with the chair proved to be quite interesting and significant as we were explained how a particular Media industry functions, given the liberty to have our queries solved by the experienced people themselves.  

Interflow has had 27 years of success as a Media industry with 204 employ strength and five departments including strategic planning, accounting for 30% of industry billing. It handles advertising, media planning and buying, production, activation and a media house responsible for electronic and outdoor media products. The media department is held responsible for airing and then buying of a product (e.g. ads) after making careful and appropriate decisions.  The creative department is responsible for art-designing of the particular products.

Ufone, Mountain Dew, Lays, Pepsi and 7Up are some of the industrial companies which rely on Intergroup for having their particular product aired on television and promoted. Other domestic companies like BAA-Contact plus, Habib Masala, Olpers, Tarang and Manapasand also rely on Intergroup for the same objective.

Abstract Opening Title

This is an abstract opening title I am going to create for my movie-Brothers. I made this short animated opening using a 2D and 3D graphic software called Adobe AfterEffect. By using the Transformation option, I was able to control the Opacity of the text layer. Also, I then animated my text to give it an effect. Later, I added sound to it by first exporting from Adobe AfterEffect as a movie, and then put soundtracks by importing it to Premiere where I added it. Then I saved it as a final product:

I have decided to select the institution MiraMax for the production of my short film entitled Sweeping Tides. This is chiefly because my film is supposed to have a psychological impact on the viewers; since the story revolves around a victim and bullies. It is known through extensive research that when a person enters inside the walls of a school, his personality and cognitive processes tend to change for that particular environment because the laws of other environments fail to apply in a school in which many social groups of students are mainly formed.
  Miramax has made several movies which have administered psychological impacts on viewers. One such is "ShawShank Redemption" which sets in a typical prison, and because of that environment the prisoners' personality and cognitive skills change.

Prelim Analysis

This is the first preliminary video ever produced by  my group. The amateur production tends to highlight a very obvious theme which is bullying like I mentioned earlier. There is continuity in the shots of the first scene (for e.g, the subject walking down the path shown from a long shot and then that shot followed by a slightly closer sideways shot to provide more detail to the viewer from the main protagonist and generate expectations from them. It should be noted that the lighting during the first shot when showing the pathway is poor, chiefly because of shadows being cast by the buildings above and dimming the natural light on the sun on which that entire scene was dependent upon.  

One can simply criticize that when showing the main scene of contact of the subject with the bullies, the camera movement was chiefly stationary, rendering the scene incapable of explaining the situation more clearly as intended. However, the audio of the scene is comparatively better as the mocking noises of the bullies is clearly heard, making their roles obvious and thus signifying their role to the viewer. Also, the sound of hands beating the back of the subject is also efficient in making the roles of the primary character and the secondary (stereotypes) characters  obvious to the viewer/viewers. Continuity in the shots is further emphasized upon when the subject is shown falling down from a specific cut scene to another cut scene, but with a varying camera angle. Also, the thud heard enables the viewer to embrace the magnitude of the situation which is that the victimized subject has been tortured and brutally thrown down on the sun-lit ground. It should be noted that after the "bullying" scene, continuity is quite efficiently showed between the cut scenes. For example, after the subject is shown in the falling momentum, his collapse is shown in another cut-scene and again with a varying angle( the camera is in front of the subject and it is a long shot). As suggested by the practical teacher, minor alterations in the way these scenes were shot. Instead of just showing the victim falling down from various camera angles in different scenes, a first[person scene with the camera falling down from the victim's motion of view could have added more insight in the viewer about this character in question.

After several days, my group finally decided to deploy another script into action. This one however was to take a different turn. Currently untitled, I started writing the script for it.

  It was meant to be very simple, with extremely obvious signs. The first scene would be shot in an internal environment, in a computer lab to be more precise. The establishing shot would be of the room's door, with the camera placed on top of a computer. Lighting wouldn't be much of a problem as the ceiling of the room was covered with parallel tube lights, providing sufficient light for the shot to be deployed. 

Social groups

The social groups portrayed in my movie are in-groups and out-groups, however more focused are the in-groups which are considered more primary and significant by the main protagonist. The main character's brothers being a part of his family (which is the main primary group for the individual)  treat him in an ill-mannered way. If the family members bully a child, the effect is far dangerous than the one a child experiences from school bullies. If a person is neglected by the family even if not by the people in school, he will still have a lot of problems because he cannot confide with his family secrets or discuss any problems he might be facing. Family consist of primary caregivers and if they neglect a child, then he will surely have problems. Here is the picture of a boy being bullied:

Google Rights Reserved

Secondary groups will also be shown in the movie because for the child these secondary groups will become primary as his brothers, members of family which is a primary group will not help him in any manner and abuse him whenever possible.

Searching Genres for my movie

After my prelim, I decided that my final task will strictly emphasize on different social groups, how victims develop social impairments. So, therefore I decided that my movie will have psychological significance for the audience, but I will fully ensure that it stays mainstream. My movie is about a child who gets bad treatment at the hand of his cruel brothers, which has quite an impact on him. However, unlike Disney's Cinderella which had a similar them, this movie will not end like a fairytale fantasy, but will portray the grim reality which we are quite accustomed to.

In Cinderella, her step sisters and mother were extremely cruel to her, and treated her like a house maid. Families are treated as a primary social group and heavily thus influence the cognitive processes of the members of it. Because Cinderella was a children's movie, it didn't show such adverse effects on Cinderella who was victimized in the family.


So, the genre is Drama like Disney's 1950 Cinderella Movie, but it is more reality-oriented unlike Cinderella which had a thoroughly fictitious approach. This movie even though is Drama is for teenagers and young adults as the violence the victim (main character) receives at the hands of his oppressors may have a negative impact for extremely young audiences.

Google Rights Reserved

There have been other movies however which have been linked more closely to my movie and less fantasy-oriented than the movie Cinderella, and the modern versions based on her. My movie excludes the genre Romance which was present in Cinderella and the movies based on it:

Google Rights Reserved

Movies like the Karate Kid in which the main character Dre Parker was beaten up by bullies shows the adverse effects they have on him for some time since he starts hating his residence, his school and most importantly; his life. My character will have more major breakdowns because the people oppressing him are none other than his brothers. Similarly like the movie Karate Kid, the main character faces the grim reality. However, even in Karate Kid the main character had a positive ending as he learned to fight and defeated his oppressors in the end who then acknowledged him as a member of their own group.



In my movie, since the brothers aren't accepting the protagonist, this will have a more drastic effect on him and he will have more problems than children who face bullies in school.