Media evaluation
- 1. Evaluation of my Main Task Captured
- 2. In what way does your film use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?My film uses many conventions of a real media product. For example my film has a title sequence including the names of the actors and director. Its been edited and sound has been added in as if it were a real media product. Its also on the same format as most films today, DVD, and on the DVD there’s a menu, music and images. Furthermore many of the conventions of a real thriller film can be seen I my film as well. For instance a lot of the time thrillers begin in an unfamiliar and abandoned place to get the audience on the edge of their seats. This is similar to in my film as the audience isn't told where the film begins and what the man is doing there. Also thriller films are usually dark and mysterious and I tried to use this convention in my film, as well as using a light source (torch) to suggest something could be in the darkness. As most thrillers try to suggest.
- 3. How does your media product represent particular social groups?My film doesn't really represent particular social groups as the characters aren't really revealed. However as a girl has been kidnapped I suppose you could say it represents girls as vulnerable, naive sometimes (this could be said for little girls). These points could be said for young people in general. I suppose I’ve also represented the particular groups that kidnap people and suggest they could be crazy and evil, as the house is dark and the windows are covered in towels for instance.
- 4. What media institution might distribute your media product and why?I’m aiming my film at people who are in their late teens and mid to early twenties. With this in mind I think the best place for me to market my film would to be on the internet. The internet is becoming more powerful and a lot of the people I want the film to be watched by are now going onto the internet to buy or rent their films. Instead of going to the shops they are going onto online shops like Amazon, Play.com, EBay, lovefilm.com and many more. Using the internet and these online shops will allow me to reach my target audience and I will be able to distribute my film to a larger group of people than if I were to use high street shops. However not all of my target audience will want to go on the internet so a shop like HMV would be great in distributing my media product, as it groups all the thrillers together (so my film will be easy to find) and there will be a lot of choice on offer so I wont just be up against big budget films.
- 5. Who would be the audience for your media product?The audience for my film would be people who are in their late teens up until people who are in their mid to late twenties. Thriller films tend to try to attract this audience as these are the people who typically watch films more and like the dark yet mysterious nature of the thriller genre. As the film would be quite dark and almost scary I wouldn't target people younger than seventeen/eighteen. As well as this reason I wouldn't target over thirties as the film would be fast paced and have lots of ideas and changes in the story and they may become confused or just not enjoy the film. I think both male and female viewers would like the film as there’s some actions and suspicion for the men and an interesting story line about a little girl being captured (which could interest the moms and parents in my target audience)
- 6. How did you attract/address your audience?Things like the cast, the name of the film and a front cover would all attract my target audience. In the actual film though I didn't want to give away to much of the story or setting or characters. I wanted the audience to go away wondering what's going to happen, or why was that person in that house and what was he looking for. This is why I shot the film in the dark with limited light. I also tried to give the audience clues so they could make there own minds up and used certain camera angles to suggest something was hiding. I also used some scary moments so that people didn't become bored and were still on the edge of their seats.
- 7. What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?I learnt a lot of things when making the opening film sequence, especially during editing. I learnt how to add sound effects in order to build tension and create a more realistic experience for the viewer. I also learnt how to edit separate shots together and uses transitions to make the changes look seamless. As well as this I learnt how to add an opening and closing title sequence, which helped to make my film more professional. Furthermore I realised that continuity is very important and that you have to think about the film as a whole and how each shot is going to follow on from the next.
- 8. What have you learnt in the progression from preliminary to the full product?Doing the preliminary task helped me as I was able to correct the mistakes I made and learn from them when creating the main task. I learnt that the use of different camera angles and shots can help to build tension and manipulate the audience. Especially hand camera work which gets the audience in on the action. I also learnt that the use of setting and clothing can enhance the realness of the film and so makes it easier for someone to believe that its real. During the actually filming of the tasks I learnt that you have to take into account continuity and often will need to get more than one take so that in editing you can pick the best shot to work with. As well as this I learned the importance of lighting and how it can be used in genres like thrillers to unnerve the viewers. Finally I learnt that in order to make the best film you must be prepared and have things like storyboards and scripts ready for you to look over