·
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
Whilst conducting our research we noted some
of the conventions used action films. One of the main ones was some sort of
chase scene, most action film include a chase scene on foot which includes some
free running or jumps where as other action films use car chases. We followed
this convention by having a chase scene on foot in our film opening; we felt
this was a good way to include some suspense in our opening. Another common
convention is that the chase scene is fast paced as it adds to the tension, and
we used this convention by adding a fast tempo soundtrack, and this gave the
illusion that chase was quicker than it actually was and it also added to the
tension. The sound track also gave the audience a vague idea of what was going
to happen, for example the sound track starts of extremely quietly however when
the chase actually begins, the sound track gets louder and quicker. Another
very popular convention that is used in action films is stunts, we challenged
this convention because there is obviously a limit to stunts we could do, we
did include a couple of jumps however there was a limit to what we could have
done; on the other hand we did include some interesting shots during the chase
and we felt this made up for the lack of stunts. Another popular convention
used in action films is a fight scene or a part of a film where some unexpected
happens, this gives a mysterious feeling to the scene. We developed this
convention by adding a punch and fade out during the film opening, we also
ended the film opening with “Johnny” (the person being chased) walking away
into the distance whilst another character is lying in the background!
·
How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
Our film opening represents teenagers negatively; this is
because our film opening represents teenagers being violent and gives the
impression that they are possibly involved in a gang or some sort of group.
Most action films and chase scenes involve young adults or teenagers, and it
gives then impression that they are irresponsible because of what they are
doing. For example in James Bond casino royal, the chase leads to the top of a
crane and then they both jump off, this is seen to be irresponsible and
basically stupid. Our film opening doesn’t involve any jumping off a crane
however the chase through the park and a children’s play area gives the
impression that the person being chased doesn’t care where he goes; as long as
he gets away. Another social group which is represented is males. All
characters in our media product are male and I suppose our media product
includes stereotypical males. This is because our film opening shows three male
teenagers being involved in a chase scene with one of the punching the other. Our
media product basically represents male teenagers as being relatively violent,
energetic and to have no regard for their own safety.
·
What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
Our genre is
Action/thriller and we were basically trying to follow the conventions that
were used in James Bond casino royal, therefore I feel the media institution
that might distribute our media product is the same media institution that
produces and distributed James bond and that institution is Eon productions. Eon
Productions is based in London so it appeals to a British audience also Eon
Productions is well known for filming James bond, and it specialises in action
scenes. The kind of media institution that would distribute our film opening
would be an institution that has had experience in distribution action films,
basically an institution similar to Eon productions. I think a media
institution such as Eon productions might distribute our media product because
they have previously produced and distributed action films that challenge and
follow the common conventions of an action film therefore we personally think
they would be interested in a media product such as ours. Another media
institution that might be interested in distributing our media product is large
institutions that produce all genres for example Universal; some of their films
are aimed at teenagers which is our target market. Additionally institutions
such as universal have the money and reputation to distribute films world wide,
however this institution is significantly large and focuses on films that have
the potential to be shown world wide.
·
Who would be the audience for your media product?
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Our target audience for our film opening would be teenagers
and possibly young adults, this is because our genre of our film opening is
action/thriller and since it contains a chase scene it appeals to teenagers
more than it would to another type of audience. Also when researching chase
scenes and action film openings we found out that all the films we looked at,
including men in black and James bond were aimed at teenagers therefore we
aimed our film opening at the same audience hoping that it would fetch a
similar response. Action films are usually aimed at teenagers because the films
include action shots and suspense, so we thought as long as we included some
suspense and a few action shots, our film opening would appeal to teenagers. On
the right (above) you will see a screen shot of some feedback that I received
from a fellow year 12 and he said that “I think it will appear to people our
age” and this shows that teenagers are likely to be attracted to our media
product. Additionally he seemed to be attracted to the film opening mainly
because of the fact its genre is action and he also liked the use of flash
backs.
·
How did you attract/address your audience?
Firstly we needed to find out why
action films attract teenagers, and what action films include that teenagers find
appealing. We found out that soundtracks attract teenagers because teenagers
listen to music and if they recognise a popular/good song then they are more
likely to keep watching the film and listen to the soundtrack. The fact that
the sound tracks used are fast paced also add to the action and tension and
this is what attracts teenagers because they enjoy faced paced chases that
includes things like free running, there is also a section in many action film
openings where the chase stops and some action happens, for example a fight
scene or something that the audience isn’t expecting, and for our film opening
we introduced a section at the end of our film where someone was punched and
this makes the audience think and keeps them watching. We also attracted our
target audience by following a few of the main conventions and this meant that
people could easily identify our film opening as a action film opening, and
this also meant that it was reasonably easy to attract audience. When a year 12
was asked what attracted them to our film opening, they replied with “I think
the fact it’s an action film opening attracted me.” They also added “I liked
the fast paced music because it made the chase feel faster”. We managed to address our audience through
Facebook and Youtube, and this lead to some of our drafts having a significant
amount of views. We also attracted our audience by uploading the film opening
to social networking sites such as Facebook; this made it easier for us to
receive some feedback that helped us in improving our film opening.
You could say that the attempts of attracting and addressing our audience have been successful. Looking at the amount of view our first draft had received shows that our media product has attracted people. Additionally we received positive feedback and some constructive criticisms which allowed us to improve our film opening.
·
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
The main technologies we have
used include documents such as Microsoft word and PowerPoint which we used
during our planning process, we obviously used a camera and camcorder and
editing software as well. We also used audio software. Personally since I have
never used any editing software before, I found it slightly confusing and
difficult; however I also found it interesting and learnt a reasonable amount
about editing whilst watching other group members. I have also learnt that some
technologies can be very unreliable, for example we experienced a problem with
Microsoft word when it came to saving our story board however this was solved
fairly quickly. I have also learnt how important a sound track is, and how
significant the impact is when the sound track that is used compliments what is
happening in the film and ultimately makes the film better. Whilst editing we
discussed ways to change from shot to shot, for example using a simple straight
edit or using a more complex cross dissolve, and I have realised why there are
different ways to change from one shot to another and how much difference it
makes, for example towards the end of our film opening we used a cross dissolve
and this looked better than a straight edit because it went well with the scene
and ultimately added a mysterious affect. I also took part in re-recording the
audio, and I discovered how hard it was to get the audio to match the lip
movements in the film opening, we had to re-record the audio due to background
sound and to insert the speech into the film without it looking strange was
relatively difficult.
·
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
As a group I know that we have
learnt how to use specific camera shots more affectively to add to the tension,
and there are some camera shots in our film opening that we think have been
used really well because it adds to the whole action genre. I personally have
learnt that soundtracks play a huge part in films especially chase scenes and
film openings, because the soundtrack ultimately establishes the mood and genre
of the film. The pace/tempo of the soundtrack is also important because we used
fast paced music and this made the chase seem faster. I have also learnt how
important it is to be prepared and organised, we found a plan extremely useful;
so every time we went out to film we knew exactly what we had to do, this made
the process of filming significantly quicker and this meant we could use time
far more affectively. One other thing that I have learnt which is extremely
important and can make a massive difference to a media product is feedback. If
it wasn’t for feedback and constructive criticisms then our media product would
not be as good as it is currently.
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As you can see we got a positive comment on our draft, this was a sign that our media product was obviously attracting people; we did get a few more comments saying things like “That’s looking good, loving the jumps”. We uploaded all the updated drafts in hope to gain some more feedback, however we didn’t get many comments; on the other hand we did get approximately 100 likes on our final product.
Overall I feel that the
production of the media product has gone reasonably well however there are some
things that I would improve on if I were to do it again. One of the biggest
problems was time, filming was extremely long however after filming the 1st
draft we realised it would of been far easier if we were to plan for next time
we were going to film; so we did and the filming process was a lot quicker and
this meant that we had more time to edit and to receive feedback. So to
conclude this evaluation I think the production of our media product went well
however the planning and organisation could be improved.
