Evaluation by Daniel Wright

Evaluation

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


A way in which my media product uses real conventions from real media products is the use of camera shots. In the example screenshot below the low angle, close up camera is trailing the legs of the fleeing characters from the film Sherlock Holmes a game of shadows.

Camera following the characters as they are being chased

We used this type of camera shot during the chase sequence of our opening film. The reason for this is that it generates a build up of drama and the audience gets more involved in the sequence as a whole as the camera shots are more diverse and varied rather than it all being on shot type such a medium shot throughout the chase scene.

The next thing to take note of is the chase scene is also in the woods just like mine, the only difference is that the one in Sherlock Holmes the setting is darkened. This is something that should have been used in my media project as this would have given it a more of a tense setting and again made it more dramatic rather than having bright sunshine.

My film setting with sunlight

Sherlock Holmes setting with darkened setting

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The opening sequence in the main task has two main characters. One being the antagonist and one the protagonist. Both of these characters are male and are both white in ethnicity. In the opening interview scene the protagonist is in a captive position while the antagonist is in power over him in this situation.

The antagonist is represented being in power by the use of camera shots. Most shots taken of the protagonist have the camera tilted down towards him. When in P.O.V of the protagonist the camera is tilted up towards the antagonist showing dominance and power.

Tilted camera facing towards the antagonist

In terms of clothing the protagonist is represented as a middle classed character. He wears normal clothing such as jumper/hoodie , jeans, normal footwear nothing that would give him any status other than a normal day to day person. With the antagonist he is represented as a middle classed person again, but a lot more formal than the protagonist as he is wearing ; a smart shirt, smart trousers and smart shoes. This gives the antagonist more power and looks more in control over the protagonist.

Formal shirt clothing of the antagonist

We chose to represent the antagonist with these items of clothing because we wanted to represent him as the on with power and authority. As said above this was also achieved by the use of camera shots such as low angle shots while in P.O.V of the protagonist. He is represented negatively towards the audience and is the one who is meant to be hated by the audience.

We never actually find out in the opening scene who the victim of the protagonists stabbing is, all we do know is the he killed the protagonists wife.

Victim Falling Over

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

My film is a low budget, Independent British film.

There are two possible ways that my film can be distributed. I can either get an independent film distributing company to take me up on my film, or I could market my product myself.

There are three main steps for the first option that would take place. First of all;

Film Production: This stage is the making of the film and is to be done by me.

Step two;

Film Distribution: This means that the film I have made gets a spot in the film industry                                           ready to be distributed.
Step three;

Film Exhibition: This stage means a place where it can and will be viewed. Examples of this                                 are on Blu-ray, DvD, Cinema or online with places such as Netflix and                                         Lovefilm.

Netflix Logo

LoveFilm Logo

There are many advantages of using this route of distribution. Undoubtedly the biggest advantage is that it will generate the most profit rather than trying to distribute the product yourself. 

The standard order in which the film will be distributed will come as follows: It will first come out in cinemas this is the most important section. 

The first week in which the film is in cinemas are crucial because most of the advertising from that point forward will be word of mouth the more hype there is about the film the more people there will be to come and see it. 

After around 4 or 6 months the film will then be released on DvD and Blu-Ray. Then, after around 6-8 months to a year the film will then be distributed on demand with sites such as LoveFilm and Netflix. Finally once the film has generated almost all the profit it can, it will be released on T.V for free.

Example of British Independent distributing companies:

- Studiocanal

Studiocanal Logo

- PictureHouse

PictureHouse Logo

- Icon

Icon Logo

- Momentum

Momentum Logo

- Pathe

Pathe Logo

The second way to market my film on my own.

Now that the digital age has taken over our everyday lives and everything we do it is now easier than ever to get my film marketed, I have many different options in which I can get my film seen by the general public.

Ways in which I could get people to "snowball effect" my film are now going to be listed below. What this means is that a person may watch my film, then tell his friends, then their friends will tell their friends, thus creating a snowball effect and eventually collecting loads of views.

I could: 

- Hold a press release

- Show screenings of my film to the public

- Use social media such as facebook to gain publicity.

- Via Email

With regards to distributing my film on my own, I also have a range to choose from with this as well.



YouTube, YouTube is probably my best bet to get my film seen by the public, there is no charge for uploading my film and I could earn revenue from ads which appear beside and on the film, More views, more money. The main thing with youtube is that it is global, anyone can see it. They can view it anytime, anywhere, any-when this is what could make my film a success.

YouTube Logo

Vimeo, this is another excellent way of getting my video seen and watched. Although it isn't completely free people say it is more reliable than what youtube is, thus possibly making it the better option of choice to upload to. But, it won't earn me any ad revenue as there are no ads I will have to take this into account.

Vimeo Logo

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience we have picked for our thriller opening are males who are aged between 18 and 35 year olds.

How did you attract/address your audience?

One reason why my target audience would enjoy the opening scene to my film is that it involves violence. This violence is represented as a murder during the chase scene in the woods. There are also verbal death threats from the antagonist during the interview scene towards the end of the opening sequence. Also during this chase scene there are a wide range of camera shots which should keep the audience interested and get intrigued.

The first is a worms eye view which shows only the shoes and lower half of the legs as the protagonist and victim run past the camera, this gives the scene more dramatic effect.

Worms Eye view for dramatic effect

The second is a P.O.V of the victim straight after he has fallen to the ground, the camera blurs then comes back into focus to represent the victim as being dazed by the fall. The protagonist then comes into the shot and strikes a blow to the victims face. This again shows more violence and is directed towards the target audience. 

P.O.V of victim that shows an example of violence

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

During the main task I personally used the camera during the whole chase scene in the woods. So I was able to use that piece of equipment loads and become very used to it and was able to use it effectively. I learnt many features on that camera using the touchscreen interface. The list of features I learnt were; White Balance, the use of Zoom, and many other features on the camera.

White balance menu on the touchscreen interface

I had never used the mac computers or editing software used to edit our filmed shots of our thriller opening so it took a while to get used to. The first hurdle was learning how to log all recorded footage from the camera on to the mac computer. This was easily learnt due to the fact that there was a tutorial on the PC that showed you how to do this.

Mac PC I edited on

Final Cut Pro Logo

Final cut was the editing software we used to edit out footage. As I said previously I had never used this software before and took a while to get to grips with it. I was surprised at how quickly I managed to grasp how to edit well enough to edit the thriller opening. I learnt very quickly how to use the features such as; the crop tool, writing the sound, trim tool, transitions (fade, wipe etc.) , changing the speed of a shot and much more.

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

Looking back on the preliminary task I feel that I have improved greatly on the main task in comparison. The first example is the framing of shots. In the preliminary task, the characters in some of the shots will be framed all the way to one side and this would leave a big, open, unused space which would have been a waste. In the main task I thought through more about where the characters were in the frame and how it could add dramatic effect to the sequence of shots.

Framing Before in Prelim Task

Framing After in Main Task

For example during the chase scene in the main film I strategically placed the pursuer behind the character and to the left of the frame while the character who is fleeing is to the right of the frame.

Shot Framing Example

Lighting was a big aspect which had improved from the preliminary task to the main task. During the preliminary task we had an interview scene, in this room we had chosen there was a row of windows which let in a lot of light, the natural light changed how the shots looked from shot to shot. In the main task we had another interview scene only this time it was in a dark room, we shot the full set of shots only to find out they were not light enough to be easily scene. We learnt from this and added low back lighting to make sure every action was easily visible to the audience.

White balance. This was a big issue in the preliminary task, we would constantly forget to set the white balance and the consequence of this was that the shots colours looked different most of the time. We picked up on this early on and made sure it wouldn't happen again in the main task. While filming the main task we made sure that we set the white balance before the start of every single shot.

This is extremely evident during the chase sequence in the woods as pictured below:

White balance example, also a brilliant framing example.

The use of varied shots is another major factor which was improved in the main task. Before, in the preliminary task the shots were fairly plain and very fixed. In the main task we varied the shots greatly to give a wider range of possibilities for what could be done in that shot and how. We used extreme closes up's in combination with close up's and medium shots to convey a more dramatic effect.

Extreme Close up on the Protagonist

With regards to sound editing, there was no sound editing done during the preliminary task, this meant sounds could be distorted or other sounds could of been picked up during the filming of these shots. In the main task we took out all of the sound and added sound effects from garage band to overlay on the main film, we also included a voice over in the chase scenes from added effect.