CRITICAL EVALUATION

IN WHAT WAY DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

My media products use, develop and challenge the forms and conventions of real media products. I did this by looking at a range of already existing short films, I compared everything I saw and took notes. I had to produce three main media texts, they are: Short film, Short film poster and finally, a double page spread film review.

My short film mainly use conventions of real Short films. I analysed video on YouTube from short film winners and took ideas to input into my short film. The original idea of the film was to focus on bullying alone but as time went by, it increased into possible outcomes derived from bullying. The first thing I had to do was to categorize and choose which genre I want to explore. I chose the “action thriller” since it is a easily recognised genre. I watched several existing films and made detailed analysis and deconstructions. These analyses can be found on my blog.

Following this I had to chose the target audience I was aiming at. I carried out researches into different age groups, what and how they consume a media text. My target audience [16+] are used to mainstream films such as kidulthood & adulthood but this time I focused mainly on social issues recognised within my targeted audience . They are however not used to films that are “funducational”. I tried to incorporate a balance of fun and education while deterring from certain conventions. I found a variety of different short films to analyse, including ones that are educational even though not a lot exists, also ones that are entertaining. I challenged the conventions of theorist that think everything has to be spelt out to audience when consuming a film.

in general I think my media product mostly uses the conventions and forms of real media products because I got most of my ideas from looking at the different forms of media available from every available source I could find. On the whole I don’t think my work I do not think my work greatly challenged it because the film is supposed to convey seriousness and professionalism rather than it being a parody of sort.

After this, I looked at movie posters and how they are designed. I analysed their layout, colour themes and what images are used based on the genre they are suitable for. I had to create a poster, a double page spread magazine review and a film.

I found the magazine easy to do but the poster harder because I didn’t have enough knowledge on adobe Photoshop..The magazine was particularly easy for me to develop as I have a satisfactory knowledge of using PowerPoint. I looked at 3 different posters at the audience we were aiming at...I then combined and compared their visual styles and format together. The most eye catching poster I could find which related directly to the theme of our poster genre was the “Kidulthood” poster. The colour theme was sharp and crisp and also the costumes wore by the character reflected directly at our targeted audience.

Working on the movie review was much difficult as it was very hard for me to find a genre specific review about an education film. Formatting the layout of the magazine page was easier to do as the image was not the most important thing and did not need much focusing on, however some of the texts had to be reconsidered. Colour themes and word warp and shape were also recalibrated so that the pages look more professional. I made use of “home” style so that the pages flow easily and they don’t look overcrowded and unprofessional.

The last thing I did was the film trailer, the trailer was the hardest part of the work as it was very challenging and time consuming, the filming was easy because of the extremely detailed shot list I created at the start of the course but the hard part was getting actors to play the characters for my film and making sure that they stick to the time we have available.

For the trailer the hardest part that I found was the editing as we had to create each scene from scratch. I also used two different editing software because of certain effects I wanted in the film..I used adobe premiere element 3.0 and adobe after effects cs4.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLIARY TEXTS?

Both texts work extremely well together in terms of allowing the audience to relate to the media texts. My main task depicts all the characters and the typical action thriller theme through a range of camera works and editing. Also, the characters ages are similar to that of my target audience, thus making a connection between the text and the audience. The costumes worn by the character relate to our targeted audience because it what a normal teenage boy will wear.

These stills from the movie “kidulthood” and “adulthood” depicts male characters between the ages of 18-22. this suggests the intended age group we are aiming at.

This magazine helped me to identify different ways of constructing a review magazine. Layout and font types to use and colour themes.

This review page helped me with the information that can be included in a review.. How to write and structure a film review. It was very difficult to find short film review but I had to make maximum use of the ones I was able to eventually find.

The double page review was designed from scratch using Microsoft word. I used similar formats and layout as the other magazines I've looked at. The images depicted are from the actual film poster. This will help the audience to identify this as a “choices” review.

my film poster and film magazine both have similar images of the main characters depicting violence and submission making it seem as if the film will be worth watching.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

INSERT QUESTIONNARE AND COMMENTS HERE

The short film was gracefully approved by my target audience. The first scene prepared them for something they weren't really expecting. The use of fast cuts and camera transitions helps to maintain the pace of the film and this was apparent in the result I got from the questionnaire I designed and gave to different groups of people to complete.

In conclusion xi felt my film was generally successful in outlining the genre, characters and the narratives. My audience felt they could relate to the characters and how they are presented. However some of the audience felt that they were many other social issues that could have been tackled in the film. I attempted to input Todorovs theory of narratives in the opening scene and also randomise the narratives to show the audience various aspect of the action.

Most of the responses stated that they would like more dialogue. This means that the initial idea wasn't as captivating as intended but with the use of carefully planned out cinematography, the audience can easily interpret what they are viewing.

In terms of the ancillary texts, my film poster was praised for its colour scheme, content and presentation. Even though the quality of the picture used wasn't as good.. I managed to blur out certain parts of the picture thus making it less detailed. This worked very well with the overall colour theme of the whole poster. From a very first glance, the poster is dark, the characters are not very revealed which signifies a hint of mystery and anger.

My double page review was immensely praised. Because I produced it from scratch using a totally different software, i got more praises. The review helped the audience clarify what type of genre they are viewing.

HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

Research and Planning.Since i have never produced a short film before, the first thing i had to do was carry out different

researches into what they are about so i can get a basic idea of what i am getting into. I mainly used Google and YouTube to find secondary sources of information to help support my ideas. This allowed

me to effectively note down the generic forms and conventions, denotations and connotations of other short films and how i may incorporate or subvert from them if i chose to. My initial plan was to make a documentary style programme talking about hip hop culture but this was at the very start of the course when i was indecisive about what i really wanted to do. I used Microsoft PowerPoint to

make class presentations as well. Microsoft words was used to type out all my researches and analyses. The film review also started in Microsoft publisher but was soon moved to MS Words due to

certain limitations

How has your research and planning practise impacted on your creative output

In AS level my research and planning level was pretty at a very basic level. Now in A2 my research and planning level has improved vastly from AS. In AS I had no idea of how to create and write a script, how to create a story board, what my target audience wanted, what sort of costumes and props that were needed (Mise-en-scene), how to create and stick to a production schedule and I never knew how to create a really good waiver form.In As I created a storyboard. I researched how a storyboard was created. The first year I hand drew a storyboard and it was completely hand drawn. In A2 now my storyboard consists of different types of shots. The storyboard helped me to look back at the scene while I was filming; it helped me to look back while I was editing to see which scene I have edited. I used Adobe Premiere element software to edit the storyboard so it could like a cartoon magazine, and also like an anima tic storyboard.

The research I carried out into the audience of our film was pretty basic. I did produce and carryout a questionnaire with a view to establishing what an audience likes and expects in a crime thriller film. This process was helpful in helping us establish audience expectations and preferences for our chosen genre but we did not utilise the content to its full potential and I was unable to capitalise on the information I had gathered to turn it into a workable idea for our production. In A2 I carried out much more focused research on what our proposed targeted audience wanted from a short film via questionnaires and surveys. I also looked at different short film websites aimed at our targeted audience to study the language mode of address and imaginary and popular culture that may attract our targeted age group. This process was really successful and improved our a2 short film focus. We were able to address and attract our targeted audience much more confidently as we did the research I had completed in depth and appropriate. Also my understanding of audience theory and how audiences receives a text improved my ability to address an audience and hopefully transcend our preferred meaning to our targeted group.

I researched many different short films which related to our genre. I used textual analysis to establish forms and conventions genric conventions, and overall themes of other short films similar to our proposed project. As my analysis skills were still developing, but after completing a number of analyse of media products through out the AS year by A2 my skills were greatly improved. I was able to create and use framework of analysis focusing on the technical areas we had studied in the first year. This included the mis-en-scene, camera work, editing and sound. I had a greater knowledge of the terms and their meaning and also was able to recognise and understand the potential meanings of different techniques in other people work. This in turn greatly improved my overall analysis in A2 and also improved my ability to use the information I gained from my analysis to inform my own practise.

As a young adult after looking at different film aimed at teenager, they basically tell the audience what the film about. I wanted to make sure that this doesn’t happen with the audience we were aiming at. I had to make the audience were capable of broadening their mind because most film doesn’t challenge the conventions because they feel the audience need to have everything spelt our for them, so I felt we should not be like most conventional films. The research and planning I carried out for the mis-en-scene of props and costumes at AS was also very basic. I got the actors to wear their own clothes as costumes. We did not plan or organise any special clothing for our actors and left it very much to chance. Over the years my skill has developed via looking at the internets for props such as a Big Foot costume and also a fake blood. I researched on the internet and also I looked at local costumes shop to get props. I research on various different sites such as eBay, and gum tree. In AS I had a very basic level of creating a waiver forms. The waiver form only consisted of the actors name and saying the will be liable for any injuries occurred while filming. In A2 my research and planning has improved because now I know what a waiver form should consist of. It should consist of the actors taking responsibility on any injuries that any damages caused while filming would come their pocket not from ours. Also ensuring that the locations has been thoroughly looked that the location is good for filming.

Evidence of planning and research

I did a mind map of my planning and research. This is sour of the evidence of my research and planning how I structured it out and carried it out.

Questionnaire

This is a questionnaire we carried out into the audience theory and what genre they consume in cinemas.

This is the result of the of the genre consumption.

ConstructionWhen constructing my animatics and actual cuts, I used Adobe Premiere Pro initially to structure the footage and add the transitions and sounds as well as Adobe After Effects, which was used to create motion in the text, such

as the beginning title, the main title and the titles over the main characters- see 0.30 – I had also used it previously in order to change the colour tone of a piece of footage- see Shot 14 process. I felt that I was much more able with this programme independently rather than having worked with a team in AS level; the reason being that there were always disputes about certain shots and how the narrative should have been presented. This was evident in my AS Continuity task as we had constant struggle with what sort of narrative to choose as

well as my partners being inefficient with Adobe Premiere Pro. Furthermore, throughout AS and A2 I had discovered a website called www.freeplaymusic.com which meant that I was able to obtain various soundtracks

that could be used in both of my final pieces.

I was allotted little time with the post production of my final AS cut as I had travel issues, thus it was a personal fault, however, I did observe closely when I was with my partners and I picked the both Premiere Pro and After

Effects up very quickly which gave me the benefit of being able to work competently. I also used Photoshop when constructing my ancillary texts. I had already had prior knowledge of Photoshop at GCSE and I practiced in my spare time. I had not used Photoshop in AS level, which meant that there was no requirement to learn it at the

time.

Evaluation.To record my evaluation and thought processes, i had to use Blogger. This meant that i had to log onto the site more often so that i can update as soon as i can. I found this to be easier because i

created a physical blog as opposed to an online blog in AS. A lot more detailed in my blogs as well. It took a while to get used to the interface but after a while, i was very competent with using this

software