Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


Well our preliminary task at first we found very difficult as we had never used a camera, tripod or the software that was required to make our preliminary such as final cut pro before But we have learnt so much from shot types, to shot angles, duration of shot, editing and that acting all improved. Also the music that we added into our final piece because we created a soundtrack on garage band on our final piece and this was progress from our preliminary. We felt it was better as a group to make our own soundtrack to make it unique and our own product. Also the change of genre to psychological thriller, changing the lighting, and the mise en scene props and setting etc. The use of primary and secondary research of successful movies helped us to look into techniques props and costume in more detail and this made our final piece better because in our preliminary we were all dressed in uniform and it didn't really look professional.In our preliminary task before making the final product. During the planning stage we did a lot of research of different genres of films and looked into those genres. We found out what is included in these genres and what type of storylines is usually produced. We also handed out questionnaires in Windsor Town Centre on a friday and saturday. Doing the questionnaires  gave us have a clear understanding of the audience we were aiming to target and what kind of films they were interested in.  We spent a lot of time and effort on making our film to the best of our ability. I feel that our final product is a success, as we stuck to our planning, worked well as a group, did a lot of research.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We had to make casting decisions to relate to the story line and setting that we chose for our opening. We chose a specific genre. Having our main character as an 18 year old boy fitted into our genre perfectly. We attracted our audience by the choice of characters and the narrative that we created. Using younger characters and a ominous situation that may involve younger people attracted this audience. We wanted to use interesting camerawork in our sequence to entertain the audience and keep them interested such as a high angle low angle and pov shots, when the antagonist hears a knock on the door and walks outside. We also used close-ups in scenes of the girl in the forest to show urgency and emotion. We used generic conventions of a pyschological thriller in our sequence such as short shot duration to create suspense and tension. I feel the ending to our opening scene is well filmed the use of the phone light  to see what has happened creates more tension to the final climax of the masked protagonist who approaches the antagonist. 

Evaluation Question 6

Reece -
Final Cut Pro - I have learnt how to transfer clips from the camera to the program. I have learnt how to mark in and mark out and cut clips, add in soundtracks, sounds etc. I have basically learnt the basics for this program.

Calvin -
Blog - I learnt how to write relevant blogposts, that related to our media topics. I learnt how to change the layout of our blog and how to add tags and labels. I also learnt how to add pictures and videos on specific posts.

Peter -
YouTube - We had watched clips off YouTube of other Media A Level opening scenes. They had helped us by showing us what is right or wrong. It's shown us what is right or wrong. It's shown us what music to use and what sounds sound better.

Henry -
Camera & Garageband - I learnt how to work a camera, i learnt how to shoot from different angles which look good. I learnt how to make a soundtrack in time with the videos and how to pick sounds which will fit the horror genre.

Evaluation Question 4

1. Who Would Be The Audience For The Media Product?

Our media film, is aimed specifically at an age range ranging from 15 to 35. This is purely because we have a teenage theme, a teenage main character, teenage location. Our film is also relevant to the film ‘Scream’, this is a teenage film.

Scream ratings:

age: 15-24 (57%)

        25-34 (31%)

Gender: Male (52%)

              Female (48%)

We’ve based our film on ‘Scream’ statistics, so we’ve based our age ratings on the film. We’ve also aimed our film at a dominantly male audience as males tend to watch this genre of film more often than women do. 

We’ve also based our film on a wide variety of class. Our film can be watched by all classes, this is because our location is in a middle class home, and we have a middle class main character which most people can relate to. 

Question 3 Evaluation

1. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

     Our age range of the film would be for 15+. The main character in our film is the boy coming back from a night out so people who have life’s like that can relate to that in our film. Targeted at a small but defined age range. 

Cinemas and dvd advertising would be the best way to distribute our film as more younger adults visit the cinema than other adults. For example, lots of younger adults visit on wednesdays as it is orange wednesdays. Advertising for younger adults would be adverts on E4, Flim4, Channel and Dave. Younger adults mostly watch these channels. Also billboards and posters on buses. 

Studio Canal would produce our film because its an independent company. There will be no opportunities for synergy and they will have to therefore target their audience in a specific way to get the best result. Small niche art centers would show this film as its a small film and not as big as others. 

Question 1 Evaluation

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

Our opening incorporates specific generic conventions of a thriller used in real media products such as films like Scream & Taken. We used specific camerawork techniques and a range of different camera shots  to create suspense and leaving the audience wanting to watch more. For example, zooming into close ups showing the emotion on the characters face, over the shoulder shots, but most importantly we added a POV shot which made one particular part in the opening seem real as it was shot from the main characters perspective as he went outside. We also used editing such as short shot durations,  this adds tension to the scene. The non diegetic sound of mysterious music also added suspense and tension to our opening and really worked well with the setting and the action within our opening. Finally the mise en scene the use of the knife, and the mask helps to not reveal the protaganists identity and leaves the audience confused. The conventions we used, do indicate that our film is a psychological thriller, the lighting and concept of the whole film indicates that it is a psychological thriller as it plays with the audiences mind. The editing we did, shows that we used many different angles to film one shot, which shows that it is tense as it is fast shot durations. We looked at 'Women In Black' a lot

Question 2. Evaluation

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

In our opening film the young boy is represented as the social group. He is walking home from a night out with his mates and is confused. The male character walks to his door but it is already open and he doesn't know why. This is represented in a stereotypical way as he is a male teenager that has left his door open as he is not thinking ahead. This is what people think teenagers are likely to do as people think they are irresponsible. The stalker challenges the male character as he knocks on his door to confuse him and to find a way to get in. He's just come back from a night out so must be intoxicated with something. They would usually get in without knocking on the door but as hes intoxicated the stalker is kind of playing a game with the male character. This shows the audience that the teenager is not thinking ahead and what the consequences could be. Our opening sequence links to our target audience as the character is a teenager as this would be a usual situation in todays environment as most people forget to lock doors, leaving the viewers wanting to watch more to see what happens. By asking teenagers around our environment we found out that they do usually forget to do things as some don't have the responsiblity as others do.