Reflection

Evaluation

In my evaluation I am going to be answering the following questions:

* In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
* How does your media product represent particular social groups?
* What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
* Who would be the audience for your product?
* How did you attract/address your audience?
* What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?
* Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?


In a film opening sequence, you usually see the titles come up. These include the director, production company, title of the film, screen play etc. I have included all of these in my sequence which helps it to look more like the opening of a film. The length of each shot are quite short, which saved me time to include more shots, and in the opening of a film the shots are usually quite short to give a brief idea to the audience of what the film is about. You also usually get introduced to an important character in an opening sequence which also helps to make it look like the opening of a film in my sequence.

The first shot that I use that I thought would be effective is a Point Of View shot. I used this shot because it gave the effect that someone was walking up the stairs. Not only does this involve the audience and make them feel like they are there in the film, I also think it adds confusion and suspicion from the very beginning of the sequence which hooks the audience and makes them want to watch more.

The next shot was the mid shot just after the point of view shot. This is where the audience is introduced to the main character through the scene. This shot shows where the character lives, showing it is not very welcoming, and quite dingy. The audience are given a brief idea of what the character is like just because of this because it helps them to understand the circumstances of the character.

Then I used a low angle shot that was at an angle where you could see the girl and her home, as the girl walks down the stairs, a title comes up next to her, I think the title and shot compliment each other in a way as it would look odd without the title because it would be a bit plain so the title fits perfectly in this particular place which is the bottom corner so it does not get in the way of anything either. Then I used another point of view shot, as it created the effect that the girl was being followed and would cause a sense panic for the audience. I thought it would be a good idea to use point of view shots in my sequence as it is a drama genre so the sequence needed some mysterious looks added to it. As it is unsettling to know someone is being followed. Again, the shot involves the audience a lot more.


Then there is another mid shot used, where the audience get a clear look of the girl, you can see her body language clearly and her facial expressions. The girl does not look at ease so the audience would wonder what is going on, and what the situation is as already we know something is going to happen. Straight after there is another mid shot of the back of the girl, however this again makes the audience think someone is watching her or that something is about to happen. The next shot is a close up of the girl which is just after a black out on the sequence, the girl is lying on the floor. The shot causes confusion and panic again as the audience would wonder what has happened to the girl, they would wonder whether she has just been attacked, or if she had fallen, and whether she is dead or alive.


Then there is a panning shot which helps establish the location of the film, it shows when it happened, as it is quite dark so we know it is late at night, which straight away gives a gloomy, spooky effect. Then there is another Point Of View shot which shows a hammer as the camera moves backwards, the audience are put in the eyes of a character which we're not entirely sure about, the audience would not know whether it is the victim, or if someone else is there, the camera looks hand held which gives the effect that the persons sight is distorted which could mean there is something wrong with them.
A panning shot is then used moving upwards towards the sky. This adds meaning to the sequence as it gives an emotional feel to it as the first character the audience has come across and begun to identify with has already had harm come to them.


The character is shown all the way through my opening sequence which gives the audience an idea of what the character is like through the use of the shots which I mentioned above, including close-ups to show facial expression and full length shots to show body language.

 My media product represents a working class social group, which is shown through the setting of my sequence, it is quiet dingy and dull and it does not look like a happy or safe place to live as it is fairly run down and miserable. This is also shown through the weather, as I chose to film when the weather was not as bright so it added to the atmosphere of the situation being shown in my sequence. The main character looks fed up and worried through facial expression in the sequence. This gives you the idea that she is not happy or comfortable in the area where she lives.


My media product would probably be a B movie and would not go into cinemas and maybe go straight to DVD as it would not include any Hollywood stars because of the genre of the film it would not grab audiences attention if they new the actor as it would take away realism. However it could be distributed to art house cinemas and festivals as it would be low budget and an indie film just like films such as ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest’ and ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’ which were both quite low budget independent films which were also both very successful so mine would aspire to be like this.

The audience for my product would be both male and female teenagers, roughly 15-19 which is around the age of the character in the film so a younger audience may be able to understand the film better and get easily hooked. The female character is also attractive which adds to the enticement of a male audience. Any social group would be able to enjoy the film, however, based on the opening sequence, a more working class background would probably be able to identify with the film as this is how the female character is portrayed to belike in my opinion. My media product may also attract this kind of an audience because it is a drama/thriller so teenagers may want to watch something that would shock or excite them easier as they may find this more pleasurable. Also many young people like to put themselves in the shoes of main characters in films and as the situation which the character is in is such a moral panic for young girls in this day and age, for example being stalked etc, young girls may want to watch it as they might find it easy to indentify with as they can see themselves in the situation which would shock them as teenagers are looking for the thrill factor which is exactly what this film would give. Even from the opening sequence.


In the process of constructing my media product, I have learnt how to use a camera properly to make a storyboard, which includes being able to get the images onto final cut express, which I also learnt to use, the tools I mainly used were the razor tool, the arrow tool to select the sections I needed, and the zooming in tools. I found final cut express was quiet simple and easy to use once I got the hang of it.

I now feel I can now successfully edit footage on final cut express without guidance. The first time I used it was on my continuity task where I worked in a pair with another member of the class, working with someone to start off with helped me to get settled with Final Cut Express and I realised that mistakes were easily fixed using it which helped me prepare for my full product. In the process of my editing I also discovered GarageBand where I made the soundtrack for my opening sequence. GarageBand was also good to have a go on as it helped me get more comfortable with what is available on the Macs and the different things I could create for my opening sequence.


I did a questionnaire on my film opening questions to find out the pros and cons of my work. The questionnaire was done on 5 people. Some of the questions which I asked included:
Whether or not my sequence looked like the opening of a film, in which 100% of the participants said yes to and said that it was because of the music that I used.
I asked what genre the film looked like it fitted into. 80% of participants said it fitted a thriller/horror genre and 20% said a drama which is what my genre was supposed to fit into.
I also asked if the sound fitted what is happening in sequence, and 100% of the participants said yes because it added suspense or made it jumpy which is the effect I wanted my sequence to have.
The next question I asked was whether the titles fitted what was happening in the sequence which again 100% said yes, all participants mentioned the title
of the film at this point, saying it was effective coming up after the character had supposedly been attacked or even murdered.I asked the participants what part of the film stood out to them and 80% mentioned when the sequence blacks out and there is a sudden sound and 20% said when the main title came up.



Improvements that I could have made on my sequence would have probably been the sound as it was on quiet a short loop which may feel quiet repetitive, however I do not feel this is a major disadvantage to my sequence because of the action in the clip which takes away any focus on the sound.In my opinion I think I did as much as I could to my sequence and that there was not a lot a would want to change apart from the sound if I had more time to edit it.