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

There are nine aspects in which my media product is conventionally similar to other media products. Firstly the name of my film was ‘Insanity.’ I wanted the name for my opening sequence to have a feel about it when it was said and I thought it was best to make sure that it was something powerful that would stick in someone’s head, similar to how most horror/thriller genre films that people see, aren’t usually easy to get rid of from their mind at first. I kept the name big and bold so that it was noticeable and so that the viewers of my opening would see it clearly. Similarly to some of the other existing typography and names of films I had researched, I wanted it to make a statement; being obvious and something that people would remember, similarly to how a lot of people are able to remember horror/thriller films. I felt that the name ‘Insanity’ which means the condition of going insane and a derangement of the mind, would be powerful and I felt that it resembled something that is horror and thriller and something which these genres of movies can include within them.

The setting and location was an important aspect of my opening sequence as I wanted to make sure that the horror/ thriller genre was obvious and I wanted the location to be someone that would give off true emotions that a real horror/ thriller film would. I had two different locations; a bedroom, where the lighting was dark and creepy, to give the opening the dark feel and I also had a wood setting with a long winding pathway, which again I felt was a convention of a horror as woods aren’t somewhere that most people would usually be seen in. I felt by having these two areas it would give off the dark and dominant feel that the character in my film was being followed. Both these locations were somewhere that I thought about thoroughly as I wanted to make sure that the genre was obvious and I feel that both these locations are typical conventions of horror/ thriller films.

The use of costumes and props within many films are often widely used, particularly within horrors and thrillers. Most horrors and thrillers use a lot of weapons of objects that are harmful. However within my own film sequence I chose not to use any weapons or ‘harmful’ props as I felt my idea and the acting would be strong enough to evoke emotions and the tense feeling of a horror and thriller genre. I did have simple props such as a bed and items around the bedroom. The costume for my film opening was important as I needed to make sure that my character was dressed down and not too over the top for her role. I chose to dress her in a way that would be casual and as if she had been dressed in this manor for a few days to link in with my plot.

In all films there are many editing features. I decided within my piece to not be too over the top with my editing, but instead to keep it relatively simple with mainly using fade transitions. I did edit the speeds and durations of the clips in order to get the fast and slow paces of my shots, to make a tense and dramatic effect on the viewer, similarly to most horror and thriller genres. For the camerawork, I chose to keep the shots fairly simple too, using main long shots, close ups, extreme close ups and panning. I felt that this worked well as when I edited my footage I was able to edit it in a way that would be typically conventional of a horror/ thriller film.

The title font and style was an important aspect for me which I researched thoroughly into existing fonts and styles to help create my own. I wanted to make sure that I kept the name big and bold, so that it would look dramatic and would emphasise the genre of the film. I decided to make the writing slightly more edgy to add to the meaning of the name. I wanted to make it one of more obvious parts of my film opening so that it would stand out. I did change the fonts for the director and character names as I wanted the main focus to be on the name of the film. Although I did have two separate fonts I felt that it still worked well and still looked okay.

The story of my film and how the opening sets it up was something that I wanted to try and make as clear as possible, but still leave the viewer guessing as to what could happen. The shot of the missing people posters is something which I think sets the opening up straight away and gets straight into the story. The fact that I used the missing posters so early on allows the viewer to have guessed and some clues as to what could happen although they don’t know exactly what is to come.

The genre of my film opening was horror and thriller. I feel that my opening suggests this straight away from the missing posters and from the girl wondering in a forest alone, looking scared and worried. I chose to think of an idea for a film overall to help me think of a beginning, which I felt helped me to think of an opening that would work and show that the genre was horror and thriller.

There was only one main character within my film, which I felt it may be harder to introduce as she was the only one. I did however have characters used within my posters, although the girl in the woods was the main interest for the viewer. I found that it was easier to only have the one character acting and allowed the viewer to wonder as to if there was going to be another character appears. I introduced the posters by panning shots, which really allowed the viewer to see how many missing posters there were and to clearly see how the posters had been written over and scrunched up. I introduced the character of the girl in the woods using several long shots which I felt allowed the viewer to see how dominant the location was in comparison to the character.

I didn’t use any major special effects within my film opening. Instead I wanted to keep it simpler as to having the main story and the acting. I did however edit the photographs for the missing people which I think created an effect on the viewer as to how dramatic it could be. I did choose to do the characters make up so she had darker circles around her eyes; however there weren’t many shots where this was clearly seen. I felt that by not using any big special effects my film opening still worked well and the viewer was still able to see that it was a horror/ thriller genre.

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

 

(Photograph from the IMBD- http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2414382592/tt1179904 )

I decided to use Ysabel as the girl who was being followed and that had been missing. I felt that a character that had some similarities to her and also some differences was Katie from Paranormal Activity. Both of them had a role where they were both becoming increasingly panicked and scared by things that could be haunting them. Although with Katie in Paranormal Activity is becoming more disturbed by a presence within her home, she still has the same emotion which Ysabel did within my own opening. Both show a lot of emotion and they both are worried as to what could happen. Although within my opening there is no actual script or voiceover, the sound adds to the tension, which differs from Paranormal Activity, which are mainly just people speaking. Both also dressed fairly similar, both being casual and in normal every day where, which is simple and not too over the top.

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A production company is a company that is responsible for funding for a company. The production company often sell its products to a film studio. Production companies can be both big companies, such as 20^th Century Fox and DreamWorks and small companies such as Republic Pictures who are an independent company.

For a film to be distributed they need to have a distributor who will be able to sell their film preferably globally. There are again both big distribution companies and small independent ones. The big companies, such as Paramount Pictures have the ability to be able to distribute globally as they have bigger financing, whereas companies such as Warp do not have the money to be able to distribute widely. Because my opening sequence is only a small piece, it is more likely to be distributed Independently.

The money to be able to distribute a film such as mine would have come from funds such as the National Lottery who would be able to help with funding to allow my film to be made and distributed. Similarly, if I was a small independent company, there may be other companies who may have brought into my company which means that there would be some funds coming from them.

Similarly within many films, there are often peoples names and the name of the films. This is to do with advertising these companies, who can make a name for themselves and also earn more money. Usually big companies such as Paramount Pictures will have their name and then it will go on to say ‘In Association with.’ My film would be similar to small films that would have been distributed by Warp Films, who are a much smaller independent company as they don’t have the same amount of money to produce big films such as big conglomerate companies.

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZjqo4fl-yk

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

There were many elements within my film that I felt addressed my target audience. Firstly the genre I chose to use was the horror and thriller which I think immediately draws my target audience in. The use of using people that are around the same age as my target audience would also appeal as they are similar age and could relate more, compared to if they were older, I think that my audience would be more likely to switch off. I think the idea is also really different and would be something that my target audience would like to see and also see how it would have developed. The fact that I have used some of the typical conventions for my film would also appeal as most people will already have an idea as to what the film would encounter, so changing all the typical conventions would have probably not appealed to my target audience.

The use of the soundtrack that I have made and added to my film opening was also attract my audience because it is typically dark and ‘droned’ which is another typical convention of the horror and thriller genre. I wanted my audience to be attracted to my film straight away, so I wanted to make sure the title: including the fonts and style stood out. The idea of my film opening was another key thing that I felt would target my audience. I wanted my idea to my unique selling point for my film, which I still feel it is. The idea is only a simple and straight forward one, but I felt that it would appeal to my audience as it gave them chance to leave them guessing as to what could happen. The idea is also simple which means that there was more ways for my audience to come up with many ideas that could happen, which I think would again appeal greatly to them as there is a lot of suspense.

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

There are several pieces of technology that I have used within the process of making my film opening.

 

The main pieces of equipment that I used for the filming area was the camera and tripod. Both of these were really simple pieces of technology that I had to use and I felt that they both allowed me to get really good footage for my film opening. Having the tripod to use with the camera was particularly helpful as it meant that my shots were completely in focus.

 

The Macbook was the second piece of equipment that I had to use. It had several programmes on it that I used to produce my film, the soundtrack and the typography. I found it really easy to use for something which I had never used before and it was extremely handy.

 

Youtube was a site that I have used which was useful to put my film opening on. Having the use of youtube meant that it was a quick and easy way to upload the video but also to watch it as well.

Final Cut Express was the main programme I used for my film opening. I found it extremely useful and easy to use which allowed me to be able to work easily with the programme. Through using Final Cut, it allowed me to learn several things: how to import my clips onto it, how to cut and edit the parts of the clips I did and didn’t want, how to add transitions and how to change the speeds and durations of clips.

Soundtrack Pro was another key programme that has helped me to produce a soundtrack for my film opening. There were many things that I learnt from using the programme such as how to make a soundtrack, how to add sound effects and also how I could add my movie to Soundtrack Pro which then allowed me to make sure the music fitted in with my footage.

 

Live Type was the third big programme that was helpful to produce my typography for my film. It allowed me to experiment with a wide variety of fonts, styles, sizes and transitions to get the typography exactly how I wanted it. I found it very useful to work with Live Type as there were several things that I could experiment with to make the exact font I wanted.

Sites such as Google and the IMBD allowed me to get photographs and research into existing films that influenced my own work.

Blogger was also a key part as it allowed me to post updates, to show my progress through my work.

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

The preliminary task that I produced was a very simple short piece. For myself the preliminary task was the first thing I had produced where I had properly used a camera. With the task I didn’t use a tripod, which I realised within my final opening sequence, helped me out a great deal.

Since my preliminary I feel that I have understood the term ‘Continuity editing’ better which I think has helped me within my own work. I made sure within my final sequence that I kept to the continuity rule as without it, the viewer would have got more confused and may have noticed little parts that were wrong. Since my first task, I myself have found it more noticeable to find continuity errors; therefore I made it one of the key jobs to make sure that the continuity of my film opening was correct. The 180 degree rule was another thing that I wanted to make sure I kept an eye on, as within my preliminary, I didn’t consider it as much as I have within my final sequence.

Editing was also another key part of my learning progress. With my preliminary task I simply just put the clips together. However within my final opening sequence I made sure that I was more in depth with how I edited it, using transitions, changing the speed of clips, the duration of the clips and also the order that it went it. I feel that I have learnt how important it is to make sure that the editing aspect was as good as I could get it and also how much difference a simple transition or speed change can make.

The use of the actual camera was something that I felt I had progressed with too. In my preliminary task I simply panned around and had an over the shoulder shot, which I found easy to do. However within my final opening sequence I used a wider variety of shots, such as panning, long shot, medium shots, close ups and extreme close ups.

Overall I feel that I have learnt a lot from my preliminary and the way that I have used the camera and thought more carefully about the editing and rules has helped me progress well within my work. I feel that the preliminary has helped me to progress in this way and has been really helpful for when I have produced my final sequence.