Media evaluation

Media evaluation

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  EVALUATION Rebecca Roe
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  Question 1: Inwhat ways does your media use, develop or challenge forms and convention of media products? Costumes The costumes for our opening scene were ultimately insignificant to our opening sequence, however could be seen to challenge media products. For example, our costumes were very plain including the main protagonist of the opening sequence appearing in, a white hoody, black jeans and a back pack.We used plain and simple outfit ideas in order to direct the focus away from the costumes and towards the storyline. Furthermore, the idea of using normal, everyday clothing gives the audience something to relate to and shows that the characters of the film are portraying “ordinary” people. However, this challenges real media products as traditionally, characters are shown to have more significant outfits in attempt to show their personality to the audience. Furthermore, the “villain” of the opening sequence was shown to be wearing all black, this conforms and develops real media product as it develops the idea of black representing a sinister colour and therefore foreshadowing the tragic later events.
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  Camera work andprops For our camera angles we mainly developed the convention for example we used many common camera shots such as, establishing shots of the setting, close ups of props such as the music box or the candle stick and tracking shots to create suspense.We used many close ups in our sequence to create tension in the storyline as the close ups of the rotating music box create a sense of mystery which lures not only the main protagonist but also the audience in. Titles We decided that our titles would be very simple, this ensures that the audiences focus is not distracted from the main focus of the sequence but however have payed credit to everyone that was involved.We did this by using a white bubble font therefore the writing almost blends in with the screen and the text is not too bold and distracting. However, our main title sequence is very sudden and fills the entirety of the screen; therefore making a bold impression on the audience. However, the actual font that we used is very simple with a plain black background, with white and slightly tinted red writing.This ensures that not too many clues are given away containing the storyline and therefore leaving the audience guessing.
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  Question 2:How doesyour media product present particular social groups? The main character of our opening sequence belongs to a young middle class, this is established through the grand establishing shot of the house showing where the young adult lives, the character is shown to be fairly privileged therefore it is likely that a similar social class will watch the film as they are likely to be able to relate to the character. It is possible that our opening sequence also follows the stereotype of the typical teenager, this could be shown due to the girl walking alone at night whilst listening to music through her earphones and carrying a backpack that is likely to contain school books.Therefore, this creates the idea of a more edgy independent character, which some teenagers may feel that they can relate to. Furthermore, it is likely that our opening sequence may attract a social group of a more gothic/emo nature due to the genre being a horror; therefore our opening sequence shows a very dark and sinister story, which means that younger people are likely to watch this in order to experience a thrill.
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  Question 3:What kindof media institute would distribute your product and why? Finding a distribution company for our film would be challenging due to our film being low budget and our company being undiscovered.Therefore a likely distribution company that would distribute our film would be “Hammer film productions Ltd”. Hammer films is a British film production and distribution company that was founded in 1934, over the years they have made many well known films however they have practically dominated the horror film market. This distribution company would be suitable for our product as firstly, they are a British company which is suitable due to our product being set in an upper class town in England. Furthermore, our genre of a horror is perfect for the typical genre of hammer films production as previous films they have distributed include “The woman in Black” and “Let me in”. In addition, this film company is not a mainstream production or distribution company, therefore this is suitable for our product due to having a low budget and being of a small production scale, therefore our product is not expected to be a typical blockbuster film.
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  Question 4: Whatwould be the target audience for your product? Our target audience would be aimed at a neurotic teenagers to early adults. this is because our opening sequence is in the genre of horror and so shows many gothic themes such as the idea of the villain. In addition our opening sequence was set at night therefore this creates a sinister idea and builds tension therefore relating to the neurotic side of our target audience. In addition the fact that our sequence is set in an urban setting means that our audience is likely to be international as many countries will have similar environments, therefore our audience will be able to relate. Furthermore, our target audience is likely to be in secondary school or university due to the main character being around a similar age group. In addition, we are to set the viewing age of our film as a 15, it would not be suitable for children as due to the genre being a horror it may show some disturbing images and therefore mentally harm them.
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  Question 5: Howdid you attract/address your audience? One of the main techniques we used to address our audience was through mise en scene and sound, for example, as the sequence begins the lighting of the product is immediately very dark and dull.This is an attempt to attract the target audience through the instant foreshadowing that this film is in the genre of a horror. Furthermore, the sound is also a method to address the audience as much like the lighting, the sound track of swan lake in the back ground adds a gloomy, sinister feel to the sequence. In addition the swan lake music acts as a backing track to the protagonist slowly exploring the house, therefore creating juxtaposition to emphasise the suspension that is trying to be created. Another method we used to address the audience was use establishing shots of the house, this lets the audience know where the film is going to be set and therefore giving them something to identify with if they live/come from a similar setting. Furthermore, our main protagonist was dressed in a north face hoodie, therefore north face would be likely to create an advert of the film containing footage from the film, this therefore is likely to attract customers of this brand to buy tickets for the film.
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  Question 6: Whathave you learnt about technologies during the process of constructing your product? Before we began our task of creating the opening sequence my knowledge of technology was very little, therefore I learnt a lot about using the NikonCoolpix LA10, one of the difficulties we came across whilst using this camera was that the built in light was not suitable for our filming.Therefore, in order to eliminate this challenge we had to use artificial lighting, however this made our footage look slightly unnatural and created many shadows across the room making it obvious to the audience where the light source was originating from. Furthermore, I also learnt how to use the software of premier, for example I learnt how to edit text such as the title screen names over the existing footage, I also learnt how to cause them to fade in and out. Another challenge that we came across whilst editing our footage was that premier had updated half way through our editing process, therefore we had to quickly adapt to the newly updated software in order to proceed with out opening sequence.
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  Question 7:Looking backat 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 can see that my knowledge has progressed a lot; for example, I have learnt that footage may need to be filmed multiple times in order to be able to judge the correct lighting and camera angle. In my preliminary task we included two many cuts during the match on action in order to get the camera angles correct, however if we attempted to re-film this section the match on action would’ve looked a lot smoother and wouldn’t of needed to include as many cuts. In addition, we also put a lot more thought into each shot of our opening sequence and direct it to our target audience.This made our sequence look a lot more professional. Furthermore, I have learnt that editing the contrast and brightness of the footage can significantly affect the mood and tension of the shots, this is something that we used for our opening sequence to add suspense which adds to the horror genre of our scene. In addition, through adding to my knowledge of using the software of premier I have learnt that adding effects such as fading in or jump cuts makes the footage look a lot more professional. Lastly, I have overall learnt how to work well in a group and to assign each role to a specific team member in order to get the work done quickly but thoroughly.