Evaluation (coursework)

Preliminary Task

Evaluation:
Our preliminary task involved us having to make a 2 to 3 minute clip which we had to film and edit ourselves. The main aim of the task was to use a variety of editing and camera techniques, the genre of our film was a crucial decision that we had to make, our overall outcome was that we'd have a twist within our genres with both comedy and horror. We then had to decide who our audience would be aimed at, we knew for definate that it would be for teens, but we had to consider what age range we would go for, after our discussion we then thought 12A. After doing some research I found out that age range for the majority of horror and comedy films were 18+ for horror and 12A for comedies.
Throughout the task I think my team worked well together, each of us contributed a fair amount to the task and we had to come up with a plan for our piece, each of us had a task to concentrate on. Nga created the script and storyline, Jodie and Reanne completed the storyboards and I done the floor plan.


To help us create our film we done extra research by watching a couple of horror and comedy films, and to try and pick up on the conventions in all of the films; by concentrating on the camera angles, lighting, mis en scene and the different types of sound used. After watching these films we had to consider what type of camera shots and angles we were going to use of our film, keeping in mind that our genre is horror/comedy we realised that we had to use a variety, that would help make it clear.
We also had to remember we had to include 'The 180 degree rule,' 'Shot reverse shot,' and 'Match on action/continuity;' and a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple lines of dialogue.

Before we could start filming we had to decide as a group which one of us was going to take on what role; at first Nga was in charge of lighting, Jodie was doing the editing, Reanne was the cameragirl and I was the director. However Reanne was having some difficulties using the camera, so I took on the role with filming instead since I've had experience with filming before, and Reanne became director. We managed to include '180 degree' and 'Match on action/continuity.'  

Shot Reverse Shot Issues 

Once we had finished filming our preliminary task, we then realised that we didn't include the 'Shot Reverse Shot' technique which was part of our task. So we then decided to film a seperate clip showing the Shot Reverse Shot technique and that we understood what it was, which is shown in the video below.

As for the sound both non-diegtic and diegtic sound was used; diegetic sound was used throughout the film from dialogue to ambient sounds in  the background. Non -diegtic sound was added during the editing process, the editing process is where the match on action and continuity was cleaned up and fixed. To edit our film we used a programme 'iMovie,' to edit we found it quite simple to use as some of us had experience using it before, and we taught other members how to use it which they picked up quickly. During the editing we had to make the sure that the timing of each clip was procise, and the continuity was clear; we also added some non-diegtic sound such as, the clock ticking and background music playing throughout the clip.

Overall I think creating our preliminary task went smoothly because, we made sure that we researched and planned what we were going to be doing. We also communicated well throughout the task with one another, and everyone knew what their role was within the group; we were also organised, and stuck to our time scheduele. Setting and up and packing our equipment away was also done properly, when editing our final piece we all contributed ideas which we thought would help improve our film.

Main Task

Evaluation 

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

Our media product is a horror film, before we filmed we decided to research by finding out what people enjoyed in horror movies. After finding out different opinions we figured that people seemed to enjoy gore and the raw aspects of a horror film. Due to these decisions we decided to conform and subvert to the basic conventions in a horror film. In our film we managed to subvert from conventions by revealing the stalker in the film first instead of at the end of the film. Other ways we managed to subvert from conventions was through the use of camera angles and shots. In order to help us we watched different horror films such as Paranormal Activity to give us ideas;

in the extract we see that there are long shots used and the cuts are quick, whereas in our film the shots are quicker and the cuts are smoother, to show how the storyline flows and is simplistic. Also in this clip the lighting remains dim/dark throughout, again we subvert from this challenge by using bright lighting; doing this gives our film a modern theme to it.

As for our music we haven't decided just yet whether we want to conform or subvert from the usual musical conventions in horror films. Since our film has a steady pace and is simple to adapt to the normal conventions music that could create a tense atmosphere would be used, however to subvert and challenge conventions of horror, we may use music that could represent our main character, which may possibly be upbeat music.

Horror instrumental ideas

                                          

The horror music we had in mind was something that built up steadily to help increase the tension in our film.

Upbeat soundtrack ideas

To help us subvert from typical horror conventions based on music, we thought that having an upbeat song playing throughout the beginning would help attract and engage our audience.

Overall we wanted the music to help maintain the horror aspect to our film, we also wanted the film to help show the change in atmosphere throughout the film. The music is a key part to our film as it conforms and subverts from horror conventions in a number of ways, which is crucial as it relates to our target audience.

Question 2: How does your product represent particular social groups?

Our product concentrates on a particular social group revolving around young teenage girls. Our film concentrated on daily situations that occur with teenage girls, but with a dramatic aspect to it, which is how we managed to conform to horror conventions.

We decided to compare our main character Jodie (bottom picture), to an ordinary teenage girl (above), our main character was typical teenage girl, whose interested in their appearance, partying with her friends, meeting new people, drinking, having fun and care free.

These typical teenage characteristics makes it able for our target audience(explorers and strugglers) to relate to our main character and form a bond with them through the duration of the film. Also basing our main character on a normal girl instead of well-known actor gives our film a realistic element to it, which is what could mainly attract audiences.

Another social group we concentrated on were based on young violent and lonely men, the way we represented him was based on everyday experiences and trouble teenage girls can get themselves into, by showing how men use social networking sites to find out personal information on young girls. In the image above we decided to use a popular social networking site 'Instagram' which people use to post photos up of themselves, as for the costume for our character, we decided to relate back to our target audience 'teenagers,' and dress him  in something casual that boys would usually wear which is a black hoody. The fact that he's wearing a black hoody could also signify the danger that'll occur. Another example of him representing danger is him being out of focus even whilst he's in the frame, whereas Jodie is still in focus throughout; him not being in focus connotes that Jodie is oblivious not only of his presence but also his threat which is about to take place. Futhermore another portrayal of danger is her red lipstick, which juxtaposes with her hair being pulled back which shows her vulnerability and innocence. 

Question 3: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Question 4: How did you attract/address your audience?

We also done a screening of our film by showing in to our target audience to see their reaction towards our film:
Click here to view it

Question 5: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

On the other hand we also thought that an independent studio could distribute our film, we researched independent studios that were popular in the UK and looked at successful films they’d recently distributed.

FILM DISTRICT

Film district is an American independent motion picture company, whose popular films they’ve distributed are horror films for the past 3 years. They also have a signed pay-tv deal with Netflix, this could be an advantage for us, since our audience is mainly aimed at teenagers, and they seem to watch films online more often than going to the cinema.

FILM 4

On the other hand Film4 may also a good distributor for our film, this company would be able to support our film as they have experience in backing films that are made in the UK. Our film also subverts from horror conventions, and the majority of films that Film4 distribute don’t usually follow the conventions of their genre. Film4 have also distributed successful horror films previously, which our film could benefit from.

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

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at my preliminary task I have learnt a lot since then, and coming up to my main task. Our preliminary task was mostly about concentrating on how to get the right shots such as; match on action, 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot. During the task we also learnt how to use the equipment and how to adapt and get used to them.
The task also gave a chance to experience editing our films using iMovie, which became useful as we discovered different techniques to show the continuity in our film, and we found many ways to draw our audience into the film. However for our main task we decided to use ‘Final Cut Pro’ to edit our films, as we were able to make more specific changes to our film to make it more precise.

With our main task we took a lot more time in planning the opening of our film, we concentrated on what would be the right the genre, to help decide we done a lot of research to find out different people’s opinions on certain film genres. Once we’d done that, we also had to figure out who wanted our target audience to be, the research that we’d done previously helped us decide upon a specific audience for our film. As group we decided that best genre to pick was a ‘Horror’ film and that it would be targeted at niche audience, preferably teenager aged 16-19 years old, as this genre was highly popular.

Once that was dealt with we began planning on what our film would be based on and came up with initial ideas, when we were finally comfortable with our idea we then came up with a brief summary. Afterwards I created storyboards and shot lists as I was in charge of all the paperwork for our task, once the shot list was done, I then had to write a call sheet and script so the cast knew details about filming dates, and draw up floor plans so we had an idea of where the equipment would be placed.  For this task we made sure that everything was organised and everyone in our group new what their role was, we also made sure that we had the right equipment for each shot and we came well prepared whereas previously in our preliminary task we'd sometimes forget certain pieces of equipment.

As a group I think we worked well together at times, but we did have issues with communication and some points. There were also issues that occurred when group memebers went able to make certain days that we were supposed to filming. However we were creative as a group and each came up with key ideas that made our film succuessful.

In the preliminary task we learnt a lot on time management as we had a sheet which helped us schedule our timing, and the different times that we'll be filming; we also worked out how long it'll take us to set up and pack away the equipment, also how long it would take to film each shot. Learning about keeping time management became useful for our AS task since we had a shot list and call sheet with details on what time we’d be filming and what specific shot we were supposed to film. 

After comparing our preliminary task and our final film we noticed that there was a major difference between the films, mostly due to the planning that we put into each of them.

Planning our main task we seemed to go into more depth, and found a range of different ways to research certain ideas which became an advantage for our film. Whereas with our preliminary the planning was not as detailed and we just done the basic planning that needed to be done. Learning from our previous mistakes gave us a major advantage for our film opening, since we had a clear idea on what to do and the decisions that had to be made in order to make our film good.