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 link above was a practice video my group made and it was our first real practice of filming, from this you can tell that we are rather inexperienced with using the camera. This was just a test video and we created a short script to practice with.

Evaluation Question 6

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


In order to get our final opening sequence completed, we had to use several different types of software and technologies, these include:
• Final Cut Express
• Livetype
• Blogger
• Prezi
• Digital Cameras
• Microphones
• Red Head Lighting Kit
• Youtube

The main software that we used was final cut express, this was to actually put the different clips we filmed together and make it into the actual opening sequence, this includes the sound and credits. When we first started using it, the software seemed rather complicated as no-one in my group had any real experience of my software. As the time went on, the software seemed easier to use. Cross cutting, additive fade and colour corrector were the main effects that we used.

Live type was the other main piece of software that was used to create our opening sequence. This was used to create all of our title credits. Prior to filming our opening sequences we had a few lessons where we were shown how to use live type. This helped and we were able to use the software effectively.

To complete all of our preparation and evaluation tasks we used prezzi and blogger which I signed up to both of them, they were both regularly used the process of completing the opening sequence. Prezzi is used for creating power points and presentations and blogger is where you can embed clips and texts. Both of these were very useful.

A digital camera was the most vital piece of equipment we used; the group had a basic understanding of how to use one but after we had completed the filming the group had a much better understanding of how to use and be able to use all of the different effects and techniques. We also used a microphone to record specific sound effects for example, a girl been gagged. Red head lighting kit was used to improve the lighting on some of the shots that was filmed.


Overall I feel that throughout this task, my knowledge and skills of this different equipment had greatly improved. It’s easy to see why film makers use these different technologies as they are easy to use. I thought that using these technologies would be really hard but the more I used them the more simple they became.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

One of the preparation tasks we had to do was to do some primary evaluation. As a group we decided to produce some questionnaires that were handed out to 10 people in our target audience age group (15+). This helped us get ideas of what to and what not to include in our opening sequence, it helped us get a better understanding of what our target audience wanted to see from our opening sequence.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?


Age- The age group of our target audience is 15-45, we chose this age group because the storyline of our opening sequence appeals to them more than it would an older person, and anyone younger than 15 would most likely be too young to watch it as it is a thriller film. People in this age group are most likely going to enjoy the twists and turns of a thriller film.


Gender- Our film is aimed at both males and females, the reasoning for this is because the results of our questionnaires told us that both genders enjoy thriller films.


Social demographic- For our film this is the working class, we felt this would be the most suitable for our film; students would also be one of the main social demographics that our film is aimed towards.


To research more into our target audience and find out more about their interests and opinions are of films we came up with a set of questionnaires that were handed out to a range of different people, this gave us a better insight of what people enjoyed about films and more particularly thriller films. Additionally we wanted to know what they would be looking for and what to expect in a film opening sequence. This feedback greatly helped us decide what our target audience age group would be, as well as the social demographic ad that we could aim the film at both genders. I think that without this feedback we would have been a little stuck for ideas, it was good to get opinions from people other than members of our group.

Evaluation Question 3

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

A media institution is a company which promotes different types of media products such as TV programmes or films. They are able to do this by producing things such as posters and adverts, as well as doing the rounds on different channels where a host would ask question relevant to the film or actors. These different promotional things are done to draw a bigger audience to the film which will allow for a bigger profit for the film as more people are paying to see it etc. examples of institutions are MGM, Paramount and 20th century Fox.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

MGM is an American media company founded in 1924 and ever since have produced blockbuster thriller films such as “Original Sin” and “Gaslight”, as they have worked with thriller films before they may be interested in developing a film like ours. MGM mainly work with mainstream films so if our film was to be big budget and have Hollywood A-list actors in it, they would be interested. MGM work in nearly every genre possible, so developing a thriller film would be no problem for them.

Lionsgate

Founded in 1997, this institution would be interested in developing our film as they already produce around 60 thriller films each year. They have produced some of the best Thriller films in recent years such as “Batman-The Dark Knight” and “Limitless”. Lionsgate would most certainly be interested in distributing our film as they specialize in thriller films, and our film fits the bill for them. Lionsgate mainly work with mainstream films, if our film was actually real it would have a bid budget and hollywood actors so it would suit their type institution.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?


The only social group that is shown in my opening sequence is a teenage girl (aged around 17), we had planned to include an older man but this fell through as we couldn’t really find someone who matched our description.

The stereotypical view of teenage girls in the media is that they are rather weak and vulnerable to the world, and in some cases they can be taken advantage of easier. Teenagers in general are seen to be troublemakers and are rude and aggressive, an example of this is in the media is the film “Adulthood”.

Another stereotype of teenagers is that they are wild and have the freedom to pretty much do what they want. An example of this from a film is “this is England”; where the characters parents have no real say in what their children actually get up to. Teenagers are often as well seen to always be bored hence why they roam the streets and get up to no-good.

In my opening sequence the teenage girl was represented in a rather conventional way in that the fact she has been captured, showing her weakness and vulnerability. As the girl is tied up and has no dialogue, you can make no judgement on what her characteristics are like such as how she talks and acts. There is a high angle shot of the girl that we included in the opening sequence to make her look small and weak.


We had chosen to represent the girl in a conventional way as it makes it more realistic and something which is seen in other thriller films. If, for example we had this girl in control of the situation and the man being powerless, the audience may have got the impression that we had done this because we didn’t understand the conventions of a thriller film, or some might say it came across in that way due to bad acting. It also makes the storyline easier for the audience to follow. The girl can be seen as an unconventional teenager as she has no freedom and cannot do as she pleases, but this is of course a unique situation what she is in so this type of rebellious teenager act does not apply to her.

Evaluation Question 1

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



I feel that my film opening sequence shows that I know all of the conventions what you need for an opening sequence, as I have included many of them. These include: film title, credits, a production company logo and cast and crew info. All of these things have been added into our opening sequence to make it look as professional as possible, and is if it were to be a real film opening sequence.


The conventional opening sequence elements I have chosen for my opening sequence are; production logo, film title, cast and crew info, credits, edited colours font etc., and actors who suit the characters they are supposed to be playing. Without these things i feel that the opening sequence would look very poor and amateurish


For my group's opening sequence there aren’t really any general unconventional elements that we have chosen to include. The reasoning for this is because one of my group’s main focuses was to try and make the video look as professional as possible, so trying to make unconventional elements fit into a video of where everything else is conventional of that of a thriller film would have been a hard task and could have lowered the quality of the piece.


The conventional elements of thriller films (the genre of my opening sequence) are of those which I have already listed, but there is more such as tension building music, an actor shown to be a villain, a scary setting and dark and dull colours used throughout. These conventions can be seen in the opening sequences of well known- thriller films such as “se7en” and “reservoir dogs”.


We chose generic conventions such as a production company logo to try and make the opening sequence look as normal in comparison to real film opening sequences. Some of the conventional elements that were used are to make the clip look like an actual opening sequence opposed to it looking like a trailer, this is something which is commonly seen in The as media opening sequences.

We chose to put in music from beethoven as it sets the tone of the opening sequence and gives the clip more of a romantic feel to it, as the clip is supposed to be of two people on a date. The music also give an eary, creepy feel to the scene and it sets the tone. music can be seen as a typical convention of a thriller film opening sequence, mainly to build tension and set the tone.

All of these conventions can be seen in my opening sequence which is shown here bellow.