Evaluation

7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what have you learnt in the progression from it to full product?

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jwSm3q-ALZw - AS MEDIA FINAL PIECE

Problems encountered with preliminary piece

We encountered many problems when we first began filming for our media preliminary task. We did not know how to use the cameras so learning how to operate them efficiently to do the filming was a stuggle however we over came this from the help of online tutorials.
We also found it hard to use the editing software, SonyVegas. We had never come across this complex editing software before so it was an issue understanding the controls and how to edit our piece correctly.
We also had problems when finishing the editing we posted the video as a final piece, before realising the sound had messed up. After discussing this with my partner we decided this was down to careless editing and no knowledge of small factors that could effect our piece.
Also we found when looking back on our work jump cutting occured twice in which two different piece's of footage have been put together or where the camera position has been moved, this is down to poor camera work and editing.

Examples of improvement
I felt we improved largely when producing our final piece, in comparison to the first piece we did. To begin with there was a lot wider range of camera shots, meaning we were learning about different angles and their effects during the filming period.
Also we learnt how to use Sony Vegas so the editing was better than our preliminary. For example the change of scenes, there was no jump cutting, we used a tool on the software programme to fade shots in and out to create a tense atmosphere.
It also had better sound quality, in our final piece there was no cutting off of sounds or sounds misplaced where they shouldn't be. We even managed to edit in artificial wave sounds with the slow shots of the sea.
Furthermore we used titles in this piece, which made it seem like it had more of a purpose for the preliminary seemed like a messy piece of filming with no purpose. The titles helped our film fit the genre and also address our audience.


Skills we have also improved on

• The presenting of film documents such as a shooting schedule, scripts and also storyboards. This meant we were more organised and could be more pecific when adddressing our actors, and also the actors were more informed in comparison to our poor preliminary task which lacked organisation
• Our uses of shots within filming. From doing our final piece we have become more confident when using the camera and more experimental with shots to creat effects and help fit our genre of horror.

Evaluation

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The first new technological skill I have developed has been the use of computers and software. I have learnt there is a wide range of blogging sites and blogging is the way to record and share ideas and work with a far wider audience. I have used this blogging site, because it is popular and efficient. I have learnt from viewing statistics to my blog that I have reached an international audience, which I could never have done without using this technology.

camera

editing software

photoshop

Evaluation

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Firstly to get an idea of what my audience is looking for in a film I conducted a survey. We asked them to name some of their favourite films.

• Woman in Black
• Scream, 1,2,3 and 4
• The Devil Inside
• Shutter Island
• The Departed
• No Country for old men
• The Hills Have eyes

Most of these films stick to the genre of Horror/Thriller. This matched with our chosen audience and age range as we wanted young teenagers who could put theirselves in the protagonists shoes. Also mainly the girls answered horror and thrillers which fitted our chosen audience even more.

Secondly we asked our age group what issues currently concerned them and they said

• Alcohol
• Drug Abuse
• What to do when they leave 6th Form
• Problems with parents

So these are key elements of our plot. Our main actors are all from the age group we are appealing to. It is unlikely that an adult audience would identify with them.

We then showed a small group of people our film and here are a few comments about our film.

• 'I felt un easy'
• 'I would watch the rest of the film, I want to see what happens'
• 'It was interesting watching a film with familiar surroundings'
• 'It was easy to relate to'
• 'The acting wasn't convincing'

So we decided to make it more extreme and made the protagonist seem far more drunk and vulnerable. The rest we kept because the feedback suggested that the audience was interested.

Evaluation

4. Who would be the audience for your media product? 

We have aiimed our film at teenagers, 15+ as it has a fifteen certificate. However we feel that it would have a broader appeal as some of the issues covered concern parenting. The main charecters are both female so it would appeal more to females than males. The main class represented is lower middle, in a lower middle class town such as Hastings which is known to be a socially deprived area, the use of the underground carpark emphasises the down beat nature of the area. So our film will appeal to an audience of people who prefer that type of realism.

Evaluation

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? 
A production company is is responsible for the physical production of the film. It is resposible for fundrasising for the film.The production company may be responsible for raising funding or may have a link with a larger company whom funds the film. Our film, was made independently by us, LUJA Productions. If we were to distribute our film, we would have to link with a large distribution company who is responsible for releasing the films to cinemas, providing dvds, online streaming etc to the general public.

I conducted some research into small british independent film distributors and also the large distribution companies. Our film is an Independent Bristish Film it would be distributed by a small distribution comapny such as
Vertigo Films, founded in 2002, is an independent UK distributing company. Below is the website for Vertigo Films in which films in production are able to contact the company and request their service. The have worked with quite a few english films, such as London to Brighton, and Horrid Henry.

Similar to Vertigo Films, Film 4 is another UK based independent production company.
Film4 is a free digital television channel available in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Switzerland, owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, that screens films. It has distributed small UK independent films such as Hunger, and Mister Lonely which would not be shown in mainstream cinemas but instead smaller art house cinemas for older audiences.Below is a website for this production company where, like vertigo, films in productions are able to contact the production company.

In comparison to Universal Pictures International, an international production company with branches in the UK.  Universal Pictures was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, it is the oldest American movie studio that is still in continuous production next to Paramount Pictures. Unlike Vertigo or Film 4 it produces wordlwide famous films that are screened in mainstream cinemas with large ranges of audiences. It has produced films such as Hanna, and One Day. This would not be the distribution company I would use because my film is an independent production and it is cheaper to distrbute using either a small UK independent company or produce your own production company.

Below is a presentation explaining how films are distributed.

HOW FILMS ARE DISTRIBUTED on Prezi

AS Preliminary Media filming task

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWlZnVakEi8&feature=youtu.be
The above link is to my preliminary AS Media filming task.

Evaluation

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?


Our media product is aimed at teenagers, so we decided to cast our actors used in our film, also as teenagers so that the audience can relate to the narrative.
We also considered gender, as a girl myself with a group of friends majority female, they were our main target audience, so again we cast our actors to be female so the audience can again relate to the narrative.

Above I have two images, one is my media product, with my main character, and the second is Easy A with a typical main character female, Olive Pendergast, in distress coping with teenage life.
Easy A is a film about Olive Pendergast , who to survive secondary school relies on rumours to advance her social standing. However she manages to find herself in constant distress, and looses friends, and goes off the rails.
Olive is portrayed as a very stereotypical teenager, as our main character, Molly is. In comparison to our media product, Olive is a lot more straight and clean-cut.

Our media product is representing current teenage life. Our cast were requested to wear stereotypical costumes, which consisted of, Molly wearing a skirt and a top and heels, and Emma wearing jeans a jacket and boots. We felt this dress would relate to our audience in that it is current and fashionable. In Easy A when Olive begins to rely on the rumour, she begins to act up to it and dress in a provocative way, we wanted to use this to show rebelliousness in Molly, but to adapt it from Easy A we toned it down to suit our audience members which could consist of young adults.
Further stereotypical views are portrayed when Olive is shown, drinking alcohol and becoming drunk at her friends party, which again teenagers in this current society are portrayed to do. However we felt Olivia portrayed drinking was a little mild, and we wanted to portray the harsh reality of teenagers drinking, which is why we chose to have our character drinking at night in the streets, this enhances the theme of potential horror and urban realism.
I feel our film is taking a realistic view on teenage life, in this current time. Easy A,have seemed to cling to the idea of the stereotypical and largely over stereotypicalize the teenager and teenage social groups.

Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our product is recognisable as being within the horror genre. For example the use of close ups to create tension.

HANNA PICTURE -
We used this idea of a mid to long panning shot to establish the setting and create tension as we saw this was done in Hanna and Attack the Block. We felt this was part of the conventions of how a horror begins.
Our film starts with a sound track of natural diegetic noises such as traffic and the waves crashing against the shore. This was to create a sense of normality and some tension as it is always a little eeire when it is so quiet. Hanna starts in the same way, using just natural sounds.
We developed the conventions by mixing up some genres instead of sticking to just Horror, we decided to mix it in with Urban Realism similar to Attack the Block, which is a hybrid of Sci-Fi/Thriller/Realism.
Our film was influenced by "London to Brighton" which develops the horror genre by showing horrific situations in a very ordinary setting. The idea that horrible things can happen in normal surroundings is more horrible than films like the recent The Devil Inside, which is harded to believe as its not part of normal life to discover someone possesed by the devil.
We stuck to the conventions of horror in which the females are victims and also that the ending often shows the victim overcoming the horror.

PICTURE OF OUR TITLE SCREENOur title sequences stuck to the conventions of horror, like Hanna we used a shocking, fast shot of our title. We used the colours black and red, the same as Hanna to create a tense atmosphere.

Genre

I originally thought that our film was a simple straight forward thriller mystery film, but with more thought into it, it is in some respects a exploitation film as in the beginning it shows the weakness of the young and also women. It is conventional for women and young or elderly to be the weak ones in films, but Emma and I wanted to adapt these conventions to suit our style and also our target audience of 15-21 year olds (also aimed at a female dominated audience but, a film for both sexes). We decided that in the opening we would give the impression of this girl being weak but throughout the film she actually comes out on top and the elder male kidnapper actually comes out as the weak character. So Liv and I are overturning those teenage female character victim conventions. We are borrowing conventions from teen horrors, this is because as they have been done before we know that it has a chance of working but we're also taking a chance on adapting the thriller genre for our film. I would like to keep the same tense mood and atmosphere with those scary elements of mystery, but whilst adapting the genre I want to make it more realistic as if it was a real event so that the audience could really get into it and in some ways involved.

MUSIC

Sound for our opening