Thursday, 25 March 2010
Evaluation
Media Studies - Video Production Evaluation
The Brief
Our brief was to produce a two minute long opening sequence of a new thriller. Producing our opening sequence took a lot of research and planning and we were all set different pre-production, production and post-production tasks to ensure that we met the deadline for our opening sequence.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In some ways my video production has similar conventions of a real thriller because we have used a murderer and a victim as the characters. However, in most thrillers the character of the murderer is usually a man; therefore we challenged this stereotype by leaving the decision of who the murderer is up to the audience. The purpose of this is so that the audience has more control over the film and more involvement. Another way that we challenged the codes and conventions of a typical thriller is by using different lighting. We decided to film our opening sequence using red lighting to connote blood and danger and from my research and planning I know that this is not a typical feature of a thriller. However we were inspired by the film ‘Catch me if you can’ which was directed by Steven Spielberg. We noticed that in the opening sequence for this film there was a use of blue lighting, we found this very effective. However we decided that using red lights would make the film more thrilling because it would connote danger. Therefore this film inspired us when it came to choosing our lighting.I also think that my group and I challenged the codes and conventions of a thriller through our storyline. The plot we followed was using a game of darts to show how a murderer is stalking girls and killing them. From my research and planning I know that this is not a typical storyline used in thrillers. Therefore me and my group have not followed all the codes and conventions of typical thrillers and have also tried to challenge them in some way or another.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our opening sequence there are only two characters involved. The first character is the ‘murderer.’ When we were creating this character we decided that we would try and make this character quite stereotypical. In other thrillers that we watched we noticed that the murderer would often be in dark clothing to make them seem more frightening and mysterious. Therefore, we decided that we would give the murderer the same stereotypical image as murderers in other films. We decided to dress the murderer in big black boots and dark clothing to make the character seem more fearsome. However we did try to challenge the stereotypical image of the murderer because we noticed that in most thrillers this character is usually a man. We decided that we would try to cover up the identity and gender of the murderer to let the audience decide for themselves who the murderer should be. Also with the feedback from our media class we found out that most people think that not knowing who the murderer is makes the film feel more disturbing. The second character in our opening sequence is the victim. Our main aim for this character was to represent her as being very vulnerable. We wanted to represent her as a stereotype so therefore we decided to dress her in very girly clothing and heels. The use of the heels is significant because it makes it difficult for the victim to run away. We noticed that in a lot of other thrillers the victims are usually women. We decided not to challenge this stereotype because using a girl as the victim seems more effective than using a man, because it is easier to represent a woman as being vulnerable than it is with a man. We did this by using the four key concepts of mise-en-scene, editing, camera and sound to effectively make the character seem more vulnerable. The sound used was the choir music which was very atmospheric and makes the audience feel like something bad is going to happen. We also used the editing and camera shots to emphasise to the audience that the protagonist is being followed by the antagonist. We also used the mise-en-scene and location to make the film seem more frightening and to make the audience feel on edge and worried.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
When creating the film my group and I didn’t think much about what film company we would use to distribute our film. However we decided that we would want the film to make as much money as possible. Therefore, after completing the rest our out film we would most likely use a popular and well known British film company such as Film Four to distribute the film so that it would become very successful. When distributing our film we would also have to consider the studio type. We would make sure that we worked with professionals and a well know company to ensure that the film would be successful. Another way that we could distribute our film would be by getting the film onto Youtube or Facebook before using a successful film company, so that we could get some audience responses and possibly find ways to improve the film.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
When we first had the brief my group and I discussed who would be the target audience for our film. We spent a lot of time researching into other films with similar scenes and storylines to work out who their target audience would be and why. Obviously the target audience for our film would simply be people that enjoy thriller movies. Originally, we decided that we would target the film at ages eighteen and above because we wanted to make our production as frightening as possible. However, after filming and editing our opening sequence we realised that it could be watched by ages fifteen and above. Therefore we decided that we would lower the age of the target audience to fifteen and above because targeting the film at eighteen and above meant that we would not be reaching out to the widest audience possible. When my group and I had finished the production piece we showed it to the rest of the class and other teachers from around the school to see their responses and got a lot of positive feedback. Most people seemed to like the idea that the murderer could be absolutely anyone and that not knowing who it was makes the audience want to watch the rest of the film to find out. There are a lot of different possible interpretations in the opening sequence when it comes to who the murderer is because it could be a man or a woman and we decided that this should be left for the audience to decide, but then obviously the audience would find out more as the rest of the film begins. Lots of the viewers told us that they liked the use of the red lighting because it makes the film more eerie. As a group we thought that the use of red lighting was a very important aspect in our film because the red connotes blood and danger, making the viewers feel that something bad is about to happen. The audience also commented on the use of voiceovers being very effective. The voice over we chose says that “Life is just a game, it’s the way you play that counts.” This relates back to the plot of the film and the use of the game of darts.
As a class we also discussed how we would show the film to a wider audience in order to get their responses and have decided we will be show casing the film in school so that we can hopefully get some positive feedback from the audience. This should hopefully be very successful because we will be targeting the correct age group for our target audience.
How did you attract/address your audience?
As our film would be classified as a fifteen we tried to think of ways to attract our audience. We realised that the use of teenage actors in our film would help the audience relate to the characters because the film would mainly be a teen thriller so that the audience can relate to the film better. Also the victim in the film would be quite easy for teenage girls to relate to because the character is represented as an attractive young girl. In the opening sequence she is wearing dressed up clothes with heels. We decided to dress the actor in these clothes because it would look to the audience like she was leaving or on her way to a party. Therefore the target audience of 15+ should be able to relate to this character, as members of the audience may have a similar lifestyle to the character of the victim. We also wanted to address the audience by making the thriller as frightening as possible. Therefore we made sure that the music, lighting, locations, mise-en-scene and camera shots were all used effectively to make the film appeal to the audience. The most important thing we thought about when trying to do this was the lighting. We decided that we would use red lighting to connote signs of danger. Hopefully, this would then startle the audience. We also had a use of contrast in our film when it came to lighting because we had the silhouette against the red background we decided to do this because we wanted to use a mixture of dark tones and bright red to make the audience feel on edge and to make the silhouette stand out more. It also makes the character looks more mysterious and makes the film feel more atmospheric
The editing was also very important when trying to make our thriller effective. The most important edits we used were the flashbacks from the girl being followed to the photographs on the dartboard. These were very important because they help to tell the audience the story and remind them of the name of the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When creating our video production my group and I used lots of types of technology that we had never used before such as blogger.com and imovie 09. Therefore this project has taught me a lot about using and understanding technology. I have learnt that technology is not always reliable because our group faced a few problems when trying to film. To create our video production the first time we had to use technology was when we went out to take some location and character shots, we used a digital still camera to do this. The photographs that we took were of five young girls, these were set out to look as if the girls were being stalked. These photographs were used to place on the dartboard and then they are showed in the opening sequence as flashback images. Another piece of technology that we used was the video camera and tripod. We also used blogger.com to carry out all our research and planning and to upload our film and continuity exercise. This was a whole new experience and was a bit of a struggle to being with, however over time I became a lot more experienced and found simple ways of uploading and changing information. The first time that we went out to begin filming was a bit of a struggle as nobody in my group had used video cameras before; therefore we were not very familiar with them. However as we did more filming our skills with the cameras became more advanced and we found it a lot easier to get the right angles and the right shots. We then got to use the Apple Mac computers provided in school to upload and edit our films. The programme that we used to do this was Imovie 09, again nobody in our group was familiar with this type of technology so we had to learn from scratch. At the start we found it very difficult and editing our clips was taking us a very long time. However, the more we used the software the better we got and we managed to edit the length of our clips, the brightness of the clips and add music, titles and transitions to the opening sequence. Throughout this process we also became more familiar with Adobe Photoshop because we had to use it to create the picture for our production company ‘moonshine.’ We learnt how to add titles to the picture, how to the crop the picture and how to brighten the colours. Therefore the process of constructing our opening sequence has taught me and my group a lot about using technology and has widened my skills with lots of different types of hardware and software.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Before beginning our video production we first made a continuity exercise to give us a little bit of practise, although this was a much more simpler task than our actual video production. The continuity exercise was only 45 seconds long and didn’t include and music or transitions. It was a very simple task made up of only cut edits. However it did help me a little bit with creating the video production because I developed a few skills from it. Looking back at my preliminary task I feel like I have learnt a lot about producing an opening sequence. At the beginning of the course I didn’t have much knowledge about how to create a video production and I had hardly any skills when it came to using technology because of a lack of experience. However, this task has taught me a lot about the different things you have to think about when it comes to filming an opening sequence. I now know that the research and planning plays a very important part, because you need to know a lot about who the production piece is going to target and you need to make sure that the idea is fully planned out before filming. The research and planning that I carried out helped me to make a lot of important decisions when it came to making my film. I found that watching other thrillers provided me with ideas to help me improve my opening sequence. Another thing I have realised from creating this production is that making a video production can’t be rushed and that it takes a lot of time, effort and patience. When I first had this task I was quite naïve and thought it would be simple, I didn’t take into consideration all the things that could go wrong. Creating this project has taught me about all the problems you face from working in the media industry. My group and I faced a lot of problems including technical difficulties and struggling to manage time properly. Therefore I feel as though I have learnt a lot in the progression from the preliminary task to producing the full product. I have learnt from my mistakes and found ways to improve my knowledge on video productions and using technology.
The Brief
Our brief was to produce a two minute long opening sequence of a new thriller. Producing our opening sequence took a lot of research and planning and we were all set different pre-production, production and post-production tasks to ensure that we met the deadline for our opening sequence.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In some ways my video production has similar conventions of a real thriller because we have used a murderer and a victim as the characters. However, in most thrillers the character of the murderer is usually a man; therefore we challenged this stereotype by leaving the decision of who the murderer is up to the audience. The purpose of this is so that the audience has more control over the film and more involvement. Another way that we challenged the codes and conventions of a typical thriller is by using different lighting. We decided to film our opening sequence using red lighting to connote blood and danger and from my research and planning I know that this is not a typical feature of a thriller. However we were inspired by the film ‘Catch me if you can’ which was directed by Steven Spielberg. We noticed that in the opening sequence for this film there was a use of blue lighting, we found this very effective. However we decided that using red lights would make the film more thrilling because it would connote danger. Therefore this film inspired us when it came to choosing our lighting.I also think that my group and I challenged the codes and conventions of a thriller through our storyline. The plot we followed was using a game of darts to show how a murderer is stalking girls and killing them. From my research and planning I know that this is not a typical storyline used in thrillers. Therefore me and my group have not followed all the codes and conventions of typical thrillers and have also tried to challenge them in some way or another.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our opening sequence there are only two characters involved. The first character is the ‘murderer.’ When we were creating this character we decided that we would try and make this character quite stereotypical. In other thrillers that we watched we noticed that the murderer would often be in dark clothing to make them seem more frightening and mysterious. Therefore, we decided that we would give the murderer the same stereotypical image as murderers in other films. We decided to dress the murderer in big black boots and dark clothing to make the character seem more fearsome. However we did try to challenge the stereotypical image of the murderer because we noticed that in most thrillers this character is usually a man. We decided that we would try to cover up the identity and gender of the murderer to let the audience decide for themselves who the murderer should be. Also with the feedback from our media class we found out that most people think that not knowing who the murderer is makes the film feel more disturbing. The second character in our opening sequence is the victim. Our main aim for this character was to represent her as being very vulnerable. We wanted to represent her as a stereotype so therefore we decided to dress her in very girly clothing and heels. The use of the heels is significant because it makes it difficult for the victim to run away. We noticed that in a lot of other thrillers the victims are usually women. We decided not to challenge this stereotype because using a girl as the victim seems more effective than using a man, because it is easier to represent a woman as being vulnerable than it is with a man. We did this by using the four key concepts of mise-en-scene, editing, camera and sound to effectively make the character seem more vulnerable. The sound used was the choir music which was very atmospheric and makes the audience feel like something bad is going to happen. We also used the editing and camera shots to emphasise to the audience that the protagonist is being followed by the antagonist. We also used the mise-en-scene and location to make the film seem more frightening and to make the audience feel on edge and worried.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
When creating the film my group and I didn’t think much about what film company we would use to distribute our film. However we decided that we would want the film to make as much money as possible. Therefore, after completing the rest our out film we would most likely use a popular and well known British film company such as Film Four to distribute the film so that it would become very successful. When distributing our film we would also have to consider the studio type. We would make sure that we worked with professionals and a well know company to ensure that the film would be successful. Another way that we could distribute our film would be by getting the film onto Youtube or Facebook before using a successful film company, so that we could get some audience responses and possibly find ways to improve the film.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
When we first had the brief my group and I discussed who would be the target audience for our film. We spent a lot of time researching into other films with similar scenes and storylines to work out who their target audience would be and why. Obviously the target audience for our film would simply be people that enjoy thriller movies. Originally, we decided that we would target the film at ages eighteen and above because we wanted to make our production as frightening as possible. However, after filming and editing our opening sequence we realised that it could be watched by ages fifteen and above. Therefore we decided that we would lower the age of the target audience to fifteen and above because targeting the film at eighteen and above meant that we would not be reaching out to the widest audience possible. When my group and I had finished the production piece we showed it to the rest of the class and other teachers from around the school to see their responses and got a lot of positive feedback. Most people seemed to like the idea that the murderer could be absolutely anyone and that not knowing who it was makes the audience want to watch the rest of the film to find out. There are a lot of different possible interpretations in the opening sequence when it comes to who the murderer is because it could be a man or a woman and we decided that this should be left for the audience to decide, but then obviously the audience would find out more as the rest of the film begins. Lots of the viewers told us that they liked the use of the red lighting because it makes the film more eerie. As a group we thought that the use of red lighting was a very important aspect in our film because the red connotes blood and danger, making the viewers feel that something bad is about to happen. The audience also commented on the use of voiceovers being very effective. The voice over we chose says that “Life is just a game, it’s the way you play that counts.” This relates back to the plot of the film and the use of the game of darts.
As a class we also discussed how we would show the film to a wider audience in order to get their responses and have decided we will be show casing the film in school so that we can hopefully get some positive feedback from the audience. This should hopefully be very successful because we will be targeting the correct age group for our target audience.
How did you attract/address your audience?
As our film would be classified as a fifteen we tried to think of ways to attract our audience. We realised that the use of teenage actors in our film would help the audience relate to the characters because the film would mainly be a teen thriller so that the audience can relate to the film better. Also the victim in the film would be quite easy for teenage girls to relate to because the character is represented as an attractive young girl. In the opening sequence she is wearing dressed up clothes with heels. We decided to dress the actor in these clothes because it would look to the audience like she was leaving or on her way to a party. Therefore the target audience of 15+ should be able to relate to this character, as members of the audience may have a similar lifestyle to the character of the victim. We also wanted to address the audience by making the thriller as frightening as possible. Therefore we made sure that the music, lighting, locations, mise-en-scene and camera shots were all used effectively to make the film appeal to the audience. The most important thing we thought about when trying to do this was the lighting. We decided that we would use red lighting to connote signs of danger. Hopefully, this would then startle the audience. We also had a use of contrast in our film when it came to lighting because we had the silhouette against the red background we decided to do this because we wanted to use a mixture of dark tones and bright red to make the audience feel on edge and to make the silhouette stand out more. It also makes the character looks more mysterious and makes the film feel more atmospheric
The editing was also very important when trying to make our thriller effective. The most important edits we used were the flashbacks from the girl being followed to the photographs on the dartboard. These were very important because they help to tell the audience the story and remind them of the name of the film.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When creating our video production my group and I used lots of types of technology that we had never used before such as blogger.com and imovie 09. Therefore this project has taught me a lot about using and understanding technology. I have learnt that technology is not always reliable because our group faced a few problems when trying to film. To create our video production the first time we had to use technology was when we went out to take some location and character shots, we used a digital still camera to do this. The photographs that we took were of five young girls, these were set out to look as if the girls were being stalked. These photographs were used to place on the dartboard and then they are showed in the opening sequence as flashback images. Another piece of technology that we used was the video camera and tripod. We also used blogger.com to carry out all our research and planning and to upload our film and continuity exercise. This was a whole new experience and was a bit of a struggle to being with, however over time I became a lot more experienced and found simple ways of uploading and changing information. The first time that we went out to begin filming was a bit of a struggle as nobody in my group had used video cameras before; therefore we were not very familiar with them. However as we did more filming our skills with the cameras became more advanced and we found it a lot easier to get the right angles and the right shots. We then got to use the Apple Mac computers provided in school to upload and edit our films. The programme that we used to do this was Imovie 09, again nobody in our group was familiar with this type of technology so we had to learn from scratch. At the start we found it very difficult and editing our clips was taking us a very long time. However, the more we used the software the better we got and we managed to edit the length of our clips, the brightness of the clips and add music, titles and transitions to the opening sequence. Throughout this process we also became more familiar with Adobe Photoshop because we had to use it to create the picture for our production company ‘moonshine.’ We learnt how to add titles to the picture, how to the crop the picture and how to brighten the colours. Therefore the process of constructing our opening sequence has taught me and my group a lot about using technology and has widened my skills with lots of different types of hardware and software.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Before beginning our video production we first made a continuity exercise to give us a little bit of practise, although this was a much more simpler task than our actual video production. The continuity exercise was only 45 seconds long and didn’t include and music or transitions. It was a very simple task made up of only cut edits. However it did help me a little bit with creating the video production because I developed a few skills from it. Looking back at my preliminary task I feel like I have learnt a lot about producing an opening sequence. At the beginning of the course I didn’t have much knowledge about how to create a video production and I had hardly any skills when it came to using technology because of a lack of experience. However, this task has taught me a lot about the different things you have to think about when it comes to filming an opening sequence. I now know that the research and planning plays a very important part, because you need to know a lot about who the production piece is going to target and you need to make sure that the idea is fully planned out before filming. The research and planning that I carried out helped me to make a lot of important decisions when it came to making my film. I found that watching other thrillers provided me with ideas to help me improve my opening sequence. Another thing I have realised from creating this production is that making a video production can’t be rushed and that it takes a lot of time, effort and patience. When I first had this task I was quite naïve and thought it would be simple, I didn’t take into consideration all the things that could go wrong. Creating this project has taught me about all the problems you face from working in the media industry. My group and I faced a lot of problems including technical difficulties and struggling to manage time properly. Therefore I feel as though I have learnt a lot in the progression from the preliminary task to producing the full product. I have learnt from my mistakes and found ways to improve my knowledge on video productions and using technology.
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