Evaluation
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The music we used was influenced from the two films we looked at which was “Lockstop” and “Trainspotting” this music was a combination of indie and alternative mixed with rap. The first piece of music we used was Kasabian – Clubfoot. This starts off slow and gets faster in some places this creates tension and dramatic effects. The comments of our music were “music is good”, “music goes well with the film” how ever one thing I feel we could have changed was the narration over the music we could have lowered the volume so the narration was clearer. But adding the voice over the music showed variation to our film which made it different to real media products.
Our editing was more advanced as we had to add flashbacks to our chase scene and use freeze frames. Freeze frames are not as common which made our film different to others. People said “good idea of freeze frames” we used various camera techniques which involved the character holding the camera whilst running with a close up. We used this shot 3 times on each character; this is where we used the freeze frames and added in the flashbacks. This made our film different to other films as the shot was different. Other shots we used were influenced by the two films we looked at which were long shots, tracking shots and zoom. The only problem we had was when we done the running with the close up it was shaky, people did pick up on this and they said it was a good idea just needed to be steadier. The long shot we used which was followed by tracking was used to create tension of the actors running. This made people ask the question “why are they running” this makes them want to watch the rest of it to find out.
Our introduction to the film shows a typical modern day school which was where we filmed, and it’s a typical event of the ‘goodies’ being chased, but with this it does not show the ‘baddies’. The chase was influenced by Trainspotting as that starts off with a chase. We make ours different by having it in school with school props, such as classroom tables and chairs, school fields. Around the school fields we used pathways for the running scenes we used close ups and long shots of these scenes to add feeling to the chase to make it more realistic on their expressions. By having close up on the actors faces it showed the audience expressions and how the actor was feeling during the scene. The audience’s reactions to their expressions were that they were confused because they did not know why they were running, who they were running from and where they were going. This showed us we had planned the right thing because it shows the tension of the action of the film because they want to know more.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
All the characters in our film are male; these were represented as active youthful gangsters around the school. One of the characters is represented as a dealer (Tez) this makes him seem on the ‘dodgy side’ another character is represented as the schools ‘bully’ (Adrian) this makes him seem rough and agitated around people. And the last character (Danny) is represented as the ‘badboy’ which has been kicked out of school; this makes him seem like a trouble maker. All of these characters are seen as low social class and poor class. People asked ‘why are there not any girls’ this was because it would appeal to the wrong people and we wanted it to appeal to the right group. We don’t really have a representation of women as there are no women in our introduction, however we could be suggesting that women are usually represented as more innocent and don’t get involved with gang-crime, where as men are more involved with that. Men are more represented as gangsters who like violence and trouble. In general, we represent gangsters as being aggressive criminals (negatively), and we represent them as mainly men who are powerful but vulnerable and are subjected to influence of others.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The kind of media institution that would distribute out film would have probably distributed films alike. I researched Trainspotting and Mission impossible 2, and I looked up the distributors. Trainspotting was distributed by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment they co-produced with Warner Bros, this mainly distributes films genres such as the original Batman and other action based films and Mission Impossible 2 was distributed by Paramount Pictures, this distributes films with different genres such as saving private Ryan, and all mission impossible films. Both of these are connected with British film companies, and our film is British. However its connection with Universal Studio’s makes its films more mainstream and less independent. Our action film introduction isn’t extremely independent or a risk to a company. This is because our film is completely different and is not like any action films distributed by the institutions. All these researched films were shown in multiplex cinemas instead of art-house ones because smaller ones (art-house) show more independent and classic films that aren’t so mainstream.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
We researched the films that inspired us and found the audience demographics that seemed to enjoy it. With all of the films we looked at the most popular age group which was 18-29. But it had a mixture of age groups from 15-30. As our film is a school based, gangster film the age range for ours would be 15-25yrs. However we thought males would enjoy it more and we targeted it more at males rather than females by making all our main characters male, this could put off some girls but then again it could drag them into it. Our target audience would be young adults (school based students) as earlier on my questionnaires I found out more people preferred action based films and as the film is made up of students and it’s filmed in school it will be in the student’s school life so it will have similar aspects.
How did you attract or address your audience?
As I’ve already stated, we were aiming for students, who were young adults and mostly male. I think that the fact that the main characters were young adults, and all male, this would attract many people to the film, as they could relate it to them or find it amusing to see what other people like them would get up to during school. The narration could attract the audience as they found it amusing. But in some cases where the music was too loud people could not hear the music as clear. Some of them said ‘what did he say’ and this made them confused and had trouble following the plot. This was probably because they were trying to follow the film by watching but also by listening to the story and what was going on, some people got it.
Also by having a good story line it made people want to watch it. People throughout were saying ‘that was good’ ‘good story line’ this showed us that people want to watch it because they want to find out what happens. I think it was because people wanted to find out why they were running and who it was from. And by adding the flashbacks it was making people want to see what they characters are like and how they might be throughout the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
We have learnt a lot about the technologies and production of an action film. This ranges from camera angles, editing, music, narration and more. We developed shot modes from researching them on the computer and what types of shots we could use and what shots were best for an action movie. Also with this research we looked at lighting shots and how the light will affect the camera. Also by shooting each shot more than once it gave us a variety to see which shot was better to use for the final product. With doing it more than once we varied it by doing the same scene but with different shots and angles. People overall said ‘nice shot’ but there were a few which mentioned about the steadiness ‘bit shaky’ this shows us and helps us for if we will be filming again. We learnt more about how to use long shots and close ups along with different tracking techniques. We realised that when following the actors from behind it was easier to use a chair on wheels rather than running which worked better and made the shots steadier than if they were running.
When it came to editing the final product this became easier as we got use to the programme, however we needed to learn how to use cuts, and certain effects like how to slow down shots and how to freeze them, how to add words up over the shot and transitions to make it more interesting. We done quite a good job of using the freeze frames and using the titles over the top we had to cut down some of our shots to make it shorter as ours was quite long.
We also had to learn how to use the radio room to be able to record the voice over and to add that over the top of the music. With this we had to learn how to control the tempo and volume of the music when the voice over was on and any sound effects used. We only used one sound effect which was the punch at the end. With this we recorded it in the radio room along with the voice over and just added it in with that. This helped us with our speech and how to record on the radio and how to raise the volume and make it quiet.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel by looking back at my preliminary tasks that I have learnt more along the way. During our action film plans we had already experienced how to story board, script and casting notes along with location report. However we needed some extras information for the filming to go better. From our preliminary we used the smaller handheld cameras but with our main task we used the bigger more technical handheld camera with this we had to learn how to use this one as it’s bigger and has more details to it than the smaller ones. The smaller camera was easier to use as we could change angles quicker and smoother but once we got used to how to use it, it became a lot easier.
The editing process was easier the second time as we had already got used to how to use the programme (premiere elements). The only techniques we were not familiar with were the freeze frames and how to slow shots down. However we had to learn how to sequence shots because we used different camera angles. In my preliminary I only used a variety of 3 shots. In this we used a variety of 6+ shots. We also learnt how to upload the content from premiere elements to youtube to be able to upload it to the blog this was because our film was too big to be able to upload it straight to our blog.
We also learnt how to share out tasks because in our preliminary we had to do all the tasks ourselves. Daniel’s tasks were to do the main script and screen tests script along with dale doing the editing. Dale also done the storyboard and the shooting script, these tasks were more planning tasks, where as I was more practical based with filming the location report and filming the main film. With the screen tests we split this up. Daniel wrote the script for the people to read and announced who was auditioning and I filmed this.
In conclusion overall I feel that I have learnt a lot from the production all I feel that we needed to do was to meet deadlines and plan further and communicate more throughout the group to get the best results.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The music we used was influenced from the two films we looked at which was “Lockstop” and “Trainspotting” this music was a combination of indie and alternative mixed with rap. The first piece of music we used was Kasabian – Clubfoot. This starts off slow and gets faster in some places this creates tension and dramatic effects. The comments of our music were “music is good”, “music goes well with the film” how ever one thing I feel we could have changed was the narration over the music we could have lowered the volume so the narration was clearer. But adding the voice over the music showed variation to our film which made it different to real media products.
Our editing was more advanced as we had to add flashbacks to our chase scene and use freeze frames. Freeze frames are not as common which made our film different to others. People said “good idea of freeze frames” we used various camera techniques which involved the character holding the camera whilst running with a close up. We used this shot 3 times on each character; this is where we used the freeze frames and added in the flashbacks. This made our film different to other films as the shot was different. Other shots we used were influenced by the two films we looked at which were long shots, tracking shots and zoom. The only problem we had was when we done the running with the close up it was shaky, people did pick up on this and they said it was a good idea just needed to be steadier. The long shot we used which was followed by tracking was used to create tension of the actors running. This made people ask the question “why are they running” this makes them want to watch the rest of it to find out.
Our introduction to the film shows a typical modern day school which was where we filmed, and it’s a typical event of the ‘goodies’ being chased, but with this it does not show the ‘baddies’. The chase was influenced by Trainspotting as that starts off with a chase. We make ours different by having it in school with school props, such as classroom tables and chairs, school fields. Around the school fields we used pathways for the running scenes we used close ups and long shots of these scenes to add feeling to the chase to make it more realistic on their expressions. By having close up on the actors faces it showed the audience expressions and how the actor was feeling during the scene. The audience’s reactions to their expressions were that they were confused because they did not know why they were running, who they were running from and where they were going. This showed us we had planned the right thing because it shows the tension of the action of the film because they want to know more.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
All the characters in our film are male; these were represented as active youthful gangsters around the school. One of the characters is represented as a dealer (Tez) this makes him seem on the ‘dodgy side’ another character is represented as the schools ‘bully’ (Adrian) this makes him seem rough and agitated around people. And the last character (Danny) is represented as the ‘badboy’ which has been kicked out of school; this makes him seem like a trouble maker. All of these characters are seen as low social class and poor class. People asked ‘why are there not any girls’ this was because it would appeal to the wrong people and we wanted it to appeal to the right group. We don’t really have a representation of women as there are no women in our introduction, however we could be suggesting that women are usually represented as more innocent and don’t get involved with gang-crime, where as men are more involved with that. Men are more represented as gangsters who like violence and trouble. In general, we represent gangsters as being aggressive criminals (negatively), and we represent them as mainly men who are powerful but vulnerable and are subjected to influence of others.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The kind of media institution that would distribute out film would have probably distributed films alike. I researched Trainspotting and Mission impossible 2, and I looked up the distributors. Trainspotting was distributed by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment they co-produced with Warner Bros, this mainly distributes films genres such as the original Batman and other action based films and Mission Impossible 2 was distributed by Paramount Pictures, this distributes films with different genres such as saving private Ryan, and all mission impossible films. Both of these are connected with British film companies, and our film is British. However its connection with Universal Studio’s makes its films more mainstream and less independent. Our action film introduction isn’t extremely independent or a risk to a company. This is because our film is completely different and is not like any action films distributed by the institutions. All these researched films were shown in multiplex cinemas instead of art-house ones because smaller ones (art-house) show more independent and classic films that aren’t so mainstream.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
We researched the films that inspired us and found the audience demographics that seemed to enjoy it. With all of the films we looked at the most popular age group which was 18-29. But it had a mixture of age groups from 15-30. As our film is a school based, gangster film the age range for ours would be 15-25yrs. However we thought males would enjoy it more and we targeted it more at males rather than females by making all our main characters male, this could put off some girls but then again it could drag them into it. Our target audience would be young adults (school based students) as earlier on my questionnaires I found out more people preferred action based films and as the film is made up of students and it’s filmed in school it will be in the student’s school life so it will have similar aspects.
How did you attract or address your audience?
As I’ve already stated, we were aiming for students, who were young adults and mostly male. I think that the fact that the main characters were young adults, and all male, this would attract many people to the film, as they could relate it to them or find it amusing to see what other people like them would get up to during school. The narration could attract the audience as they found it amusing. But in some cases where the music was too loud people could not hear the music as clear. Some of them said ‘what did he say’ and this made them confused and had trouble following the plot. This was probably because they were trying to follow the film by watching but also by listening to the story and what was going on, some people got it.
Also by having a good story line it made people want to watch it. People throughout were saying ‘that was good’ ‘good story line’ this showed us that people want to watch it because they want to find out what happens. I think it was because people wanted to find out why they were running and who it was from. And by adding the flashbacks it was making people want to see what they characters are like and how they might be throughout the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
We have learnt a lot about the technologies and production of an action film. This ranges from camera angles, editing, music, narration and more. We developed shot modes from researching them on the computer and what types of shots we could use and what shots were best for an action movie. Also with this research we looked at lighting shots and how the light will affect the camera. Also by shooting each shot more than once it gave us a variety to see which shot was better to use for the final product. With doing it more than once we varied it by doing the same scene but with different shots and angles. People overall said ‘nice shot’ but there were a few which mentioned about the steadiness ‘bit shaky’ this shows us and helps us for if we will be filming again. We learnt more about how to use long shots and close ups along with different tracking techniques. We realised that when following the actors from behind it was easier to use a chair on wheels rather than running which worked better and made the shots steadier than if they were running.
When it came to editing the final product this became easier as we got use to the programme, however we needed to learn how to use cuts, and certain effects like how to slow down shots and how to freeze them, how to add words up over the shot and transitions to make it more interesting. We done quite a good job of using the freeze frames and using the titles over the top we had to cut down some of our shots to make it shorter as ours was quite long.
We also had to learn how to use the radio room to be able to record the voice over and to add that over the top of the music. With this we had to learn how to control the tempo and volume of the music when the voice over was on and any sound effects used. We only used one sound effect which was the punch at the end. With this we recorded it in the radio room along with the voice over and just added it in with that. This helped us with our speech and how to record on the radio and how to raise the volume and make it quiet.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel by looking back at my preliminary tasks that I have learnt more along the way. During our action film plans we had already experienced how to story board, script and casting notes along with location report. However we needed some extras information for the filming to go better. From our preliminary we used the smaller handheld cameras but with our main task we used the bigger more technical handheld camera with this we had to learn how to use this one as it’s bigger and has more details to it than the smaller ones. The smaller camera was easier to use as we could change angles quicker and smoother but once we got used to how to use it, it became a lot easier.
The editing process was easier the second time as we had already got used to how to use the programme (premiere elements). The only techniques we were not familiar with were the freeze frames and how to slow shots down. However we had to learn how to sequence shots because we used different camera angles. In my preliminary I only used a variety of 3 shots. In this we used a variety of 6+ shots. We also learnt how to upload the content from premiere elements to youtube to be able to upload it to the blog this was because our film was too big to be able to upload it straight to our blog.
We also learnt how to share out tasks because in our preliminary we had to do all the tasks ourselves. Daniel’s tasks were to do the main script and screen tests script along with dale doing the editing. Dale also done the storyboard and the shooting script, these tasks were more planning tasks, where as I was more practical based with filming the location report and filming the main film. With the screen tests we split this up. Daniel wrote the script for the people to read and announced who was auditioning and I filmed this.
In conclusion overall I feel that I have learnt a lot from the production all I feel that we needed to do was to meet deadlines and plan further and communicate more throughout the group to get the best results.
Top Films
Top Films USA
Quantum of Solace
Madagascar 2
Role Models
High School Musical 3
Changeling
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Soul Men
The Secret Life of Bees
Saw V
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Top Films UK
Quantum of Solace
Max Payne
High School Musical 3
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Ghost Town
Dostana
Burn after Reading
Easy Virtue
Igor
Saw V
Top Rated Action Films within the past 10 years
The Dark Knight 2008
Lord of The Rings 2003
Fight Club 1999
The Matrix 1999
Lord Of The Rings 2002
Sin City 2005
Batman Begins 2005
Gladiator 2000
Kill Bill 1 2003
The Bourne Ultimatum 2007
Top Rated 2000s Titles
The Dark Knight (rating 9)
Lord of the Rings 3(rating 8.8)
Lord of the Rings 1(rating 8.7)
Wall E (rating 8.6)
Lord of the Rings 2(rating 8.6)
The Departed (rating 8.5)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (rating 8.4)
Batman Begins (rating 8.3)
Gladiator (rating 8.2)
Finding Nemo (rating 8.1)
Quantum of Solace
Madagascar 2
Role Models
High School Musical 3
Changeling
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Soul Men
The Secret Life of Bees
Saw V
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Top Films UK
Quantum of Solace
Max Payne
High School Musical 3
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Ghost Town
Dostana
Burn after Reading
Easy Virtue
Igor
Saw V
Top Rated Action Films within the past 10 years
The Dark Knight 2008
Lord of The Rings 2003
Fight Club 1999
The Matrix 1999
Lord Of The Rings 2002
Sin City 2005
Batman Begins 2005
Gladiator 2000
Kill Bill 1 2003
The Bourne Ultimatum 2007
Top Rated 2000s Titles
The Dark Knight (rating 9)
Lord of the Rings 3(rating 8.8)
Lord of the Rings 1(rating 8.7)
Wall E (rating 8.6)
Lord of the Rings 2(rating 8.6)
The Departed (rating 8.5)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (rating 8.4)
Batman Begins (rating 8.3)
Gladiator (rating 8.2)
Finding Nemo (rating 8.1)
Focus Group Questions
Questions i used for the focus group is:
1. Were the graphics (the opening credits) appropriate to the films opening?
2. Does the opening make you want to keep watching the rest of the film?
3. Do you think the actors/actresses that take part in the film effect your view on the films?
4. Does the opening show what age rating the film is?
5. Which one was your favourite film out of…?
Bad Boys-
The Matrix-
Mission Impossible-
6. Why was this?
7. Out of the main characters which was the best?
1. Were the graphics (the opening credits) appropriate to the films opening?
2. Does the opening make you want to keep watching the rest of the film?
3. Do you think the actors/actresses that take part in the film effect your view on the films?
4. Does the opening show what age rating the film is?
5. Which one was your favourite film out of…?
Bad Boys-
The Matrix-
Mission Impossible-
6. Why was this?
7. Out of the main characters which was the best?
Research on Questionnaire
The first question I put onto my questionnaire was how old are you? The reason I put this was because different ages attract to different types of films.Question 2 was female or male? This is the same as age group different genders attract to different films. Question 3, people tend to enjoy the cinema and go often, most people usually go once a month or few times a year, on my questionnaire I could have put 2/3 times a year or more often…
People always watch films and enjoy different genres. This was a good idea to put into my questionnaire as I can get an idea of what people want for my main task.
The films I have chosen for question 5 are different films, they are family films, children's film, adventure film, action film. On question 6 I put no. in correct order of what the public like as I can get a main idea of what to concentrate on the most.
As I am choosing an action film for my main task I had a couple of questions which were directed at this genre. Question 9 was directed at my main task as it’s a opening to an action film I put what do you prefer as an opening? This will give me an idea of how to start my task off.
This results graph shows that most of the people that I asked do my questionnaire were between the ages of 16 and 20. one person that I asked was between the age of 21 and 30. this will affect my results of my questionnaire as my results are from the same ages.This graph shows the gender of people that I asked. According to my results they were mainly male. More boys will want action and adventure films where females would want romantic and chick flick films. This will affect my results.
Every person that answer my questionnaire said they go to the cinema every month. this is in relation to the age, this shows that 16-20 year olds do not have a lot of money so they go and see the film they like which is out at the point, also cinema is one of the cheapest options for 16-17 year olds to go to if nothing else is available.The graph related to genre is popular with action films, this is mainly due to gender. More males will like to go and see action and where I had more male results action films are the most popular. This will help me choose my opening film.
Most people chose the dark knight as its an action, comedy. This could be a family film as children grow up watching batman and reading about it they want to see what the movie is like.Most people prefer the story line of the film because it shows the events of batman in the film
People chose special effects as the best part of a film, as this makes it more interesting and exciting for the viewers to watch.
All people which answer questions 7 onwards were all about action films, the main majority of people said they watched action films all the time others said they watch them sometimes. This tells me that people enjoy watching them.
This was the main question of my questionnaire this will tell me what people prefer as a start of an action film. People prefer fights and chases at the beginning. As my results for this were the same for a fight or a chase it will be up to me to decide which I chose for my main task.
Questionnaire
1. How old are you?
0-10
11-15
16-20
21-30
31-40
41+
2. Are you Male/Female ... Delete incorrect answer.
3. How often do you go to the cinema?
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Yearly
Never
4. What is your Favourite genre?
Action
Sci – Fi
Romance
Fantasy
Animated
Documentary
Horror
Thriller
5. What is your favourite film out of the ones below?
The Dark Knight
The Godfather
Indiana Jones
Toy Story
Harry Potter
Wall E
6. Why do you like chosen film? (number in order)
Leading Actor/ Actress
Special effects
Costumes
Story Line
Music
7. If you watch/enjoy action/adventure films please answer questions 7,8,9. If not please go to number 10.
Do you enjoy watching action films?
Yes all the time
Sometimes
Rarely
8. How important are the following in an action/adventure film? (Number in order)
Good looking actor/actress
Special effects
Music
Good story line
9. Do you prefer_______ to start off an action film?
A Chase
a Fight Someone
Chained Up
Interrogation
Someone Talking
10. If you do not like watching action films please say why?
0-10
11-15
16-20
21-30
31-40
41+
2. Are you Male/Female ... Delete incorrect answer.
3. How often do you go to the cinema?
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Yearly
Never
4. What is your Favourite genre?
Action
Sci – Fi
Romance
Fantasy
Animated
Documentary
Horror
Thriller
5. What is your favourite film out of the ones below?
The Dark Knight
The Godfather
Indiana Jones
Toy Story
Harry Potter
Wall E
6. Why do you like chosen film? (number in order)
Leading Actor/ Actress
Special effects
Costumes
Story Line
Music
7. If you watch/enjoy action/adventure films please answer questions 7,8,9. If not please go to number 10.
Do you enjoy watching action films?
Yes all the time
Sometimes
Rarely
8. How important are the following in an action/adventure film? (Number in order)
Good looking actor/actress
Special effects
Music
Good story line
9. Do you prefer_______ to start off an action film?
A Chase
a Fight Someone
Chained Up
Interrogation
Someone Talking
10. If you do not like watching action films please say why?
About the blog
On this blog you will see how i have created my main task for my media course this year. To access and view my Prelimanry task go to http://cookie-productions.blogspot.com/.
in this project i have paired up with Dale and Daniel and seperatly we planned different parts of our task. We chose to have film as our main task and we chose together to do a action based film.
To access Daniels Blog go to http://stopthepressproductions.blogspot.com/
To access Dales Blog go to http://deep-sea-productions.blogspot.com/
in this project i have paired up with Dale and Daniel and seperatly we planned different parts of our task. We chose to have film as our main task and we chose together to do a action based film.
To access Daniels Blog go to http://stopthepressproductions.blogspot.com/
To access Dales Blog go to http://deep-sea-productions.blogspot.com/
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