eval

Daniel Parslow media coursework evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms

and conventions of real media products? My film challenges conventions but also adheres to aspects both technical and theoretical. To catorgise my film it would fall under the thriller genre, as I began to plan and develop a narrative I created a clear picture in my head where I wanted a sinister, tense flow maintained and throughout, to do this I researched many areas but conventions I picked up, from last year , where a slow pace mysterious introduction would establish the genre and also create an atmosphere that is apparent in the title sequence of my own production that from my audience research suggest an affective response. I used simple white serif font over footage as well as over black one to adjust pace but also to incorporate clear conventions of the genre examples of this can be seen in Walk On The Wild Side directed by Edward Dmytryk (1962)

Text over footage classic thriller convention

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

Further more within my title sequence I took inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s Citizens kane where he would use a Varity of tracking shots revealing a location which can be linked to my opening where the audience are shown shots of the ruins of the house filled with nostalgia from the past events.

Overall the title sequence clearly establishes a thriller genre through the iconic codes and conventions such as tracking shots revealing a location music parallel to the tone and simple sans serif titles over black and text

Example of Hitchcock’s style opening at 0.16 on my film where the camera tracks down the burnt wood slowly revealing a location

Shot from Citizens Kane’s title Sequence where the camera tracks Down past the indexical and

Symbolic sign of danger

Link Between The two


In media theories are applicable and directly link to my film within the industry theorist propose ideas that link narrative technical filming and other aspects that combine to create an effect, two theories I have learnt , Laura Mulvey theory on the male gaze and Stranatis theory on postmodernism link to my project and reveal how the codes and conventions I meet influence an effect on the audience much like the structure depicted by Laswells proposal of communication

The mainOutcome What I Want is The Audience To feel Unease

The effect depends on who the message is from who the receiver is how the message is portrayed something I had to incorporate when deciding how to portray the narrative

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms

and conventions of real media products? Laura mulvey suggest that all film are shot through the male gaze depicting women as second class and objects in stead of dominate characters this theory is bold but is compelling when applied to examples, in my film the girl is less dominate and at first the victim with only sympathy as an emotion felt when interacting with the audience which is reiterated with the use of the pov at 1.05, representations change as I indicate with a pov shot at 1.54 turning empathy to the so called “antagonist” and from that point I try to reveal that the girl was vindictive and manipulated him to committing these crimes which is depicted in the voice over’s where a deeper narrative is apparent In conclusion Mulvey proposes every media text is seen through a males ideology and perspective and women are either seductive objects with what they wear or are weak and less dominate than the male, my film adheres to this even through representations change where at the start the man is perceived as , without remorse , the villain and the woman a nothing but positive character only the victim, towards the film this changes as the sound bouncing of the walls reveals her intent and deceiving ability to try and hurt the man.

The other theory which can relate to my work being Stranatis theory on postmodernism where the audience are made to acknowledge that the film is a film and not reality this can be done through camera work as well as narrative my film tries to create the story from the walls perspective which in its self does not relate the audience to a human character as well as not showing identifying close ups which also detaches the viewer from true character empathy and escapism however my film also includes to POV shots which are shot from both protagonist and antagonist which is rarely seen as a director focuses on one character throughout when trying to gain a connection between character and viewer.


Girls point of view at 1.05 Boys point of view at 1.54

Next chapter How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?

How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?

In this years project we where asked to produce not only a main film but also two ancillary text one being a film review and the other being a film poster each has its own conventions and particular features that must be incorporated to create an effective but recognisable piece of text for example film poster would use a clear layout with the production company or slogan at the top of the page the main image and finally the title of the film along with the production details including cast and crew at the bottom (hidden drawing less attention) within this layout the poster will try to create synergy between both poster and narrative, to try and achieve this goal I created a poster that had the title clear and bold with its production details but also have an image that would connote a sense that walls can speak in more detail I wanted to show a scene , one separate from the film to give it a wider concept and a wider appeal allowing the audience to relate the concept to there personal lives, where my subject is in distress as the walls surround as if they are comforting or taking in the information from the event “knowing something the viewer does not”.

The layout title in middle with image information at the bottom and production company at the top

How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?

Again with the film review the conventions where apparent to gain a stronger understanding I brought a hard copy of Total Film magazine where I deconstructed reviews as well as poster to pick out there key concepts that are the make up of the composition and language of the text. From this research I revealed that the language would appeal to its target audience mostly being young and movie watches therefore stereotypically used to slag and humour that is common with in the reviews, further more than layout would be clean cut using footage from the film in one lager image and either two or tree smaller images around this structure the designer would place quotes in stand out to give the reader a initial feel moreover the review would include a section on “if you like this you would like ..” or an interest diagram showing the films duration picking out points, I added aspects like these into my review as shown below.

Page number and borders for authenticity

Stand out quote

Star rating

if you like you will like ..

Details duration e.c.t

New chapter What have you learned from your audience feedback?

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To construct my audience feedback I created a questionnaire and sent them out to friends and family as well as naturals to gain not only a wider range of opinion but a more honest opinion one that would be constructive not just positive.

Some of the questions I sent where as following:

Did the film appeal to you and would you recommend it ?As a thriller was suspense created effectively?Do you remember any particular favourite bits?Where there any areas you feel I could improve on?Overall what would you say the meaning was behind the film?

As well as these questions I recorded some details age gender ethnicity so I could gain a target audience from the results I created graphs revealing information that would create my conclusive synopsis of the data.

age range

40

1510

23

31

8

15-18 19-26 26-30 30-45 45-55 55+

Graph revealing the majority Age is 15-18 year olds therefore Having narrative and advertising Geared to there ideology


sex

56

71

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

male female

sex

Predominantly the audience that where shown my film and watched my film where between the age of 15-18 , which may be due to the film being shown purely online with media such as youtube and facebook however the data also reveals the audience majority being female and ethnic background white British properly again due to the social situation I am in looking at school area e.c.t, from the questions I mentioned above the feedback was positive with lots of comments on how the film was slightly scary and people enjoyed the ambient sound, furthermore the main question for me was what interoperation did they get from the film out of the 127 people 118 said along the lines of that inanimate objects having life and the walls knowing the true events not the people, which is a huge positive in that for me I created an emotional response from most as well as convey the message that if walls could speak effectively with conviction for a student film I thought this would not be as successful.


Points that I could improve is a important question and a recurring answer is that some voice over’s where hard to hear and understand, few quotes to pick out are :

“it actually scared me”

“sound could be clearer”

“the camera angles look more professional not student like”

Overall I feel the feedback was positive some points to go away and improve but I am very happy with the fact that I created and emotional response in that its scary tense”

New chapter How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Research

Initially we had to research short films I begin by constructing a list of what directors would establish within the opening and then look at the differences in feature to short films both in conventions and narrative. Furthermore I analysed film reviews and posters and for this task I brought a hard copy of total film where I deconstructed different reviews and posters most research was secondary being of the internet where I learnt techniques of film riot , a channel on youtube or tutorials such as premier skills again on youtube, to document my progress I developed my understanding of blogger where i embedded video to do this I had to upload footage onto youtube account, and this year I worked on my own windows laptop with my own Sony EXMOR camera shooting in high definition so the projects would export as 1800i , full definition

overall the research was second hand information from the internet and when making the project I would use adobe premier cs5 as well as soundbooth and photoshop cs5, all this product I have worked on before as I do art a level which has enhanced my ability on each programme, soundbooth was a slight learning curve as I had trouble importing files before u used quicktime to edit the sounds adding effects such as adjusting the ambient sound which can be heard on the voice over's at 2.15 onwards

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation

I learned only some files would transfer onto youtube and transfer from windows to Mac these being FLV files that uploaded onto youtube with out hassle and for editing sound on sound booth on a Mac I used QuickTime. The next step is to use slideshow software to import this evaluation on my blog, furthermore I would expect this film to be show on short film channel compared to last year where the tones where bright and cold making it instantly recognisable as a TV production this year I made the cinematography dark and contrast heavier to enhance its cinematic feel there fore I believe this film would be either on short TV on sky or other short film station possible a special on BBC.

Cold tone to the left a stronger cinematic feel To the left