The Finished Film

The Finished Media Product

Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 7

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

On October 1st 2012 me and my media group conducted our first ever practical. We where put into small groups of three's or four's and where told my our teacher to go out and film and attempt to capture on camera some of the shots we had previously discussed in lesson. This included shots such as mid shot, long shot, close shot, pan and tilt.

This shot on the left, was an attempt at a long shot. I was the camera man and decided to tell Adeseye to stand away and walk into the camera as it is a common technique used in filming. On reflection I can see that it is not as good as I first thought, but the good thing is that we used a long shot in our finished media product. As you can see in the bottom picture, you can see that the long shot in the finished media product is better utilised. In the first practical obviously taking into consideration that this was the first ever chance we had to use the camera, I believe that there was no real effect of using the long shot of Adeseye walking in towards the camera, it was done because we felt that it was needed but it was not carefully thought through. However, when it mattered in the real finished product, we successfully used a long shot in order to give the viewers a good knowledge of the landscape. The bottom picture shows that we have progressed very well.

The shot on the left shows a zoom technique. I was filming our first practical and I decided that for this particular scene, I wanted to use the zoom technique. In this scene, Dylan (the person in the screen shot) is being told some heartbreaking news from Adeseye that a person in their family has died. I decided to use the zoom technique because it emphasises what is on the camera. By me choosing to zoom in on Dylan, it is exaggerating his emotions to the viewers. I strongly believe that this scene was successful in regards to the technique used, I also believe that with more planning it could have been a lot better. Having used the zoom technique in the first practical, I noticed that it is used in many Thrillers effectively and it was definitely a technique that I was going to take into consideration when making my Thriller. When making my Thriller we did not include a zoom and this is because my group members felt as though it was not really needed. However I strongly disagreed with them as I felt that if a zoom technique was used when Sarah dropped her phone, it would have foreshadowed that something mysterious would happen and the phone would have been a part of that.

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 6

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

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

We used many specific devices in attempt to try and capture our target audience. The night setting that I have used in the opening is used to appeal to all ages. The night setting is typically labelled with mischief and troubles. So I have used it to portray that something will happen and I believe that this will appeal to many people as it is common Thriller.

I believe that the audience would continue to watch because of the clever use of the cliff-hanger in my film. The idea of using a cliff-hanger came from watching many Alfred Hitchcock films and it was quite inspiring. Also I watch a lot of soaps such as Eastenders and they commonly use a cliff-hanger on a Friday episode to literally force the viewer to watch the next episode on Monday. I used this idea and put it in my media product to attempt the viewers to continue watch the next one (if there is a next one).

Question 5 - slideshow

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product seems very limited but there are aspects in my media product that I believe are in most Thrillers and this could possibly widen my audience and viewers. The ages I have used are teenagers. I would have liked it to be more general and consist of more ages but in my product the only age that is present is teenagers. This consequently limits my audience, as the elderly are unlikely to watch a Thriller about teenagers. The gender and class are both quite broad. I have not specifically targeted a gender because in the Thrillers I have watched it doesn’t really seem to be very male or very female. However, in regards to class, I do not think the upper class would be entertained by a Thriller made by young students, so I believe it is aimed at middle class and perhaps lower class. I believe that teenagers would watch my media product as it is very modern and enticing. I think the appeal comes from the young characters; it is rare to see a scene of a girl being attacked by boys in a Thriller. It is usually men and women. Before proceeding with my media product, I conducted research with a focus group to attempt to identify what people like in Thrillers and also to see if my idea would be suitable to proceed with. However at the time we did our focus group, we were set to go with an idea that was in a graveyard. Due to miscommunication and the idea looking nearly impossible to film, I came up with a new idea and that is the one we used. I still took into consideration the feedback I was given from my focus group. For example, I decided to start with a night scene which was mentioned in my focus group and also, I tried to emulate an action thriller. From the feedback I was given after the film, it was apparent that the younger age category found it “fast paced” and also they commented on the good use of the cliff-hanger at the end which would make them want to continue to watch the Thriller.



http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6ZHN5HW

From the results obtained, it shows me that 78% of people believe the film is aimed at a young audience which is the audience I aimed it at.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3

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

A media institution is just a company that sells or offers you media products such as films, posters and articles. There are Film Studio’s that offer media products such as Major, Mini Major and Independent. These are very big Film Studio’s and it is highly unlikely that they will distribute a film made by sixteen year olds from Dagenham, they would look for something that is more likely to appeal to a wider audience because our media product would really only appeal to people within the ages of 9 to 18. However there are other media institutions such as Film 4 and BBC. These are well known institutions that appeal to a wide audience. However, it is still unlikely that these institutions are likely to distribute our film due to the lack of experience present in our group. None of us are really media experts and it would be very unprofessional for them to distribute our film as it may not be to everyone’s standards then the institution itself would be heavily criticised. In regards to our film being distributed, it is likely that a company like YouTube or Twitter may advertise, distribute or even promote my media product, as YouTube holds over 5 million videos.

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product depicts teenage stereotypes and also gender and race stereotypes. It represents gender stereotypes at the beginning of the film where Sarah is conveyed as being a dumb female. She dropped her phone and did not even notice and this scene made her look fragile and careless. The stereotype that males are superior to women is also conveyed in my media product. When the Stalker takes the phone, it displays a mans dominance and that he is in full control of the situation whereas the female is naive and weak. This stereotype is used in a lot of films, typically in the 1900s where women where labelled as 'housewives'. Nowadays it has declined in society but it is still indirectly seen in many films. Moreover, another stereotype that was presented in my media film is the stereotype of  black males through myself. This is actually a very common stereotype that displays young black males with criminality and antisocial behaviour. This is seen in my media product when I initially take Sarah's phone and then do something to her. At first because I am a young black male and wearing dark clothes and have my hood up, I am labelled as a thief and also a criminal. By me having my hood up and looking rather dodgy, I'm portraying the typical stereotype of a gangster. I think by having these stereotypes present in the film it makes the product more believable and also more exciting.

Hopefully this mind map will aid your understanding of some of the stereotypes we tried to potray.

http://www.spicynodes.org/oembed/url=http%3A//www.spicynodes.org/db/nodemap/&id=2b349f9d1b6cb4f3865f94257195f98c&nodemapID=438602&width=640&height=360