EvaluationBy Sheryl Teather

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

real media products?

Our film uses titles and music suited to the genre of the film. The key prop which we used was in the action scene, where we had a close up shot of a gun as the trigger was being pulled, this is because it was significant to the whole sequence and mustn’t be missed by the audience. We used an enigma in our opening sequence to draw in the audience and make them want to watch the rest of the film to find out what is going on, the one that we used was the phone call at the end of the sequence, which is also a cliff hanger to hook the audience. We used the rule of thirds in the aerial shot of the man running to create more tension and interest to the audience, framing also helped to create more interest for the audience and help focus their attention. As with all media products we featured our production company at the start of the film.

I think we developed our media product by using interesting original titles and production logos. The original music which we chose helps support the meaning of the different scenes.

We challenged the conventions of real media products by having an action sequence before the titles to hook in the reader.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For the female ingénue protagonist we wanted her to be represented as an innocent, pure, young woman. We tried to emphasize this representation by keeping her make-up natural, her hair in loose curls and her clothing bright to contrast with the darkness of the men’s costumes. This is a very positive representation of her; the audience would be able to tell that she has nothing to do with the bad things happening around her.

The driver of the car is dressed all in black with black gloves, this was to portray him as someone that isn’t too bothered about his actions and is used to doing things that he shouldn’t be doing.

The other man is also dressed in black, but with a white shirt which may make the audience think of a James Bond kind of character and shows that he could be innocent. This concept comes from the Western films in which the heroes/heroines wear white and the villains wears black.

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

We maybe could find an independent local cinema that would be willing to exhibit our media product in exchange for a percentage of profits.

We would also be able to apply for development funding through the first feature film development programme with the UK Film Council, receiving up to £25,000 to write and develop our feature film.

Screen East has a Digital Shorts Programme, which partners with the UK Film Cinema New Cinema Fund. These offer help to filmmakers in the East of England with creating short films. They offer up to £15,000 to produce films. However they are only offering to help make 5 films, so we would have to apply quickly.

We could try to get a foreign distribution company with similar products to ours that might put our film on their lists, one way in which we could make this happen is to perhaps persuade them with a US Star or represent their country in some way.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think our film would mainly be aimed at males from the age of 16 to 45. This is due to the action in it and the representation of the villains. Also I think the issues raised in our media product, mean the male audience are more likely to respond and relate to them.

However, females could also be attracted to our film, because of the males in the film and the way the woman is represented – that kind of ingénue feels she needs a man to look after her but we develop her character later in the film.

I think the film classification for our film would be 15. This is because of it’s theme and the violence content.

How did you attract/address your audience?

One of the ways we attracted our audience was to start off our sequence with lots of action right from the start to keep them interested and focused, also by using a cliff hanger at the end to keep the audience wanting more.

Another thing is our choice of music which is very fast paced, this keeps the audience alert and concentrating on the film to see what will happen next. Action/thriller is a very popular genre, so that on its own will attract our target audience. Also the use of a gun makes the sequence more shocking and worrying for the audience. The location also in some ways can help to attract the audience because of the low-key lighting helping to create an eerie atmosphere. We used editing to slow down some of the face paced action scenes, so that it adds more interest for the audience.

Other ways in which we could attract our audience would be a poster from the DVD design, which would be placed on buses, newspapers such as ‘The Sun’ and magazines such as ‘FHM’. We would also create a trailer which would be broadcast in between programmes such as Skins, Shameless, Inbetweeners and other ones aimed at our target audience.

We distributed questionnaires to a range of demographics and our results showed that whilst watching action films they expect: upbeat music, special effects, introduction to main character, titles and action. So whilst creating our film we made sure to feature these qualities.

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

I have learnt a lot about technologies whilst making this product, one of these is how to use Adobe Premier Pro 1.5 editing programme, which I had no idea how to use before I started. Such as importing our film onto the computer, editing the footage, adding in different transitions, adding music, editing the sound and how to burn the film on to disc. Another thing was how to use Photoshop, which before creating our media project I had no idea how to use.

Also I have learnt how different camera angles help to create meaning in certain shots, as well as the framing of the shot.

Before I started constructing this product, I had no idea how to use a blog, but over the course of making our film I have learnt a lot from how to publish posts to how to import photos and video.

The advantages of learning how to do all these new things is that next year my media production can be completed earlier and include much more complex things than this one.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression

from it to the full product?

I feel I have learnt how to incorporate different camera angles into the filming to make it more interesting and to add more meaning. Another thing I found that makes the sequence more interesting to watch is the editing and all the different transitions and how different ones can be used to create certain meanings.

I also learnt how different music, titles and colours make you think of certain genres and using the correct things make your finished product more similar to real media products.

I found it easier to create and develop my own storyboard to suit the genre rather than being very limited after creating my preliminary task, as I had a more complex idea of what was needed.

Also, I learnt a lot from examining opening sequences for their conventions and form and that the selection of mise en scène effects the overall feel of the film.