EVALUATION : How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research planning stages?

Media technology plays a major role in film production; due to the fast paced progression of new technologies it makes the process much more exciting and easier. It also widens your knowledge around media. I used a variety of media technologies in my research, planning and production stages.

 

I used online media technology to create a blog which enabled me to upload text, pictures, and videos etc. It showed the progress of my portfolio from the research and planning to the production.

Blogger has allowed me to use different font styles and also sizes for text. In order for my blog to look consistent I just made sure I stuck with the same style and size. I showed evidence of my work by uploading videos and pictures on my  blog. Blogger allowed to choose from different options on how I wanted the size to be and where I wanted to place the video for example in the left right or center.

I thought using blogger was very easy to get use to and i came aware of how to navigate around the website very easily

You tube is a video sharing website which I used  to look at other short films for my research and planning. Most of them inspired me on how I wanted my short film to be. I also used this website to analyze other short films and upload them on to my blog, and uploaded our film onto there in order to get some feedback

Wikipedia was my main source that I used for research due to the fact that it has a lot of relevant information that anyone can use. I used it to find information on gang culture, statistics on knife crime, short films, music and much more.

 Other technologies that helped me communicate with my group member and actors:

*SMS

*FACEBOOK

*MYSPACE

*TWITTER

I used Photo shop because it was a software that I used in my AS coursework so I was already fond of it. It played a huge part in my ancillary tasks. i used it to edit images, cut them out change the saturation levels and contrasts to fit in with everything else. There were a lot of things to play with on the software.

Adobe premiere Pro was used to edit my film. I found this software quite easy to use. It enabled me to import video clips, play with sound effects/music and pictures, cut and overlay videos, apply video transitions and effects I also used IMBD to research film genres and directors.. I used technology such as Microsoft PowerPoint to create my mood board and Microsoft word to edit my text and check spellings before uploading it onto my blogs.

We used the Sony handy video camera to capture our footage for our short film and we made sure that everything we captured was stable and not shaky by using tripods which created smooth shots when needed. We uploaded the footage to adobe premiere pro on windows home vista to edit our footage into the correct order. In order for me to get a better understanding on the sort of genre that my film fell into I watched films on a DVD player to study certain shots, costumes, props and many more.

Looking back at my coursework I think it has allowed me to develop my skills from how I did in AS, I think I have got stronger at editing and filming. I have also realized that me and Naomi worked as a proper team and there we no problems between us that effected our work if I could improve on anything or had the chance to do it again than I would probably get all the acting done as soon as possible and make sure that I have a lot of time on my planning and research.

EVALUATION : What have you learnt from audience feedback?

Once me and Naomi finished our film we exported it to MPEG and gathered a small amount of three people to watch the film after we finished we each gave them a piece of paper and asked a few questions to get some responses. These were the questions that we asked:

    1.What is your initial thought of the short film?

2.What do you understand from the storyline?

3.Putting together the editing, audio and acting how would you improve this short film?

From all of these responses we learnt that out of everything in the film the monologue had the most effect and it allowed the audience to connect to the character, the fact that we kept everything natural and real gave out the sense of feeling that me and Naomi hoped for. We also realized that the order of the scenes we put together along with the editing made the storyline less confusing and that how the target audience could point out what sort of role each character played. When I and Naomi created this film we hoped that it will not only have an educational impact but also an inspirational impact on the target audience, from some of the responses that we received we realized that our short film reached our aim. Although me and Naomi wanted to film in at night or when it was darker to create the same feeling from the past and the present it sort of came out as a disadvantage because it made the lighting difficult to achieve new did not have extra lights in order for there to be more effect.

Although we felt quite pleased with these responses we decided to take it a bit further and get more peoples responses so we decided to upload our film on a social network called Face book to allow people to watch it and then put up a questionnaire for them to fill out once they have finished viewing the film. 

Here is the feedback we received:

26 People completed our questionnaire 18 males and 8 females the majority of them were aged from 14-18.

 

My results show that 23 people enjoyed our short film however 3 people didn’t. Although a small amount of people did not enjoy our film the amount that did enjoy it reveals that our film was a success.

 

 This shows that my audience had good knowledge of what was happening in the film which indicates that both me and Naomi expressed the storyline well and kept it consistent throughout.

 

My results show that 58% found the film inspiring, 19% found it educational and 23% found it emotional. We’re very happy with this because the majority of the audience found the film inspiring which was the sort of feeling what me and Naomi was trying to achieve.

 

From this bar chart we could see that the majority of the audience thought the monologue (voice over) had the most effect. This feels like a success for me and Naomi because it took us both quite a while to write out the monologue and at the same time fit it in with the shots within the film. We had to make sure that the monologue flowed well with the soundtrack and also the acting so we had to make sure that there were points where the narrator sounded happy, upset, angry, and pleased.

The feedback we got from the questionnaire was positive and it helped us realize that we created a media product that the audience can relate to, understand, and follow the narrative.

EVALUATION : How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?

My film poster and film review uses typical conventions of existing film posters. Before I created this I analyzed other film posters and found that all film posters that fall in to this genre includes images of the main characters and shots of from the film. The titles are always linked to the images with the tag line connecting towards it. I included all the information on the poster which fulfills its purpose. At the same time I was analyzing existing film posters I was also analyzing film reviews and noted down that they all include the name of the magazine the film review has come from, editor’s names, and essential information about the film such as producers, screenplay, directors, running time etc. I realized that film reviews always have an introduction of the film as well which helps the audience understand what the film is actually about before they continue to read on.

I think my film poster and review is appropriate for my target audience because I am aiming my target audience to be young males between the age of 14 and 21. I made my film poster different and quite technical and also did not add any colors. Although I have not used any role models I have copied the style of most role models that young males look up to such as clothing.

My film review combines well with my poster and main product because they all include shots from the film so you can tell that they all evolve around the same thing and are from the same location which indicates that the same process is being carried out in all products. Using the same theme would help people remember the name of the film and what it is about.

My film is based on a boy that lost his brother years back due to gang violence and now he is working to be successful not only for himself but to give his brother a new ending as well. My poster combines well with my main product because all the main characters feature on the poster. The only thing that does not reflect on the poster is death you can’t tell that someone dies in the film all you know is that there is an end, you can however tell there would be an act of violence from the use of costume and the fact that there is a sense of anger coming from the last image.

 As I was creating my poster I looked at other existing posters to make sure that mine looked professional as possible.

The film review I created allows me to further communicate about the film and help advertise. I kept similar imagery but include more pictures from the film so that the film review and poster relates making it recognizable. I think it is eye catching due to the enlarged image of the little boy looking down at the text and the pictures, the fact that I used the little boy again makes it appropriate to analyze and evaluate the film.

I chose to use adobe photo shop cs4, as I am familiar with this program. I played around with the tools and created effects to each image and changed colors and brightness levels.  I decided to insert the image of Marlon when he is older in the word “NEW” and the two boys that killed his brother in the word “ENDING” because I felt that it connotes the words and it would create a strong visual link between title and the film. There is an effective combination of both poster and film review with the images which raises enigma around my products and gives the audience ideas about character types. I also feel the way my title is laid out on my poster creates an interesting buzz to our film.

From early research, I noticed that film posters included information about the film on the bottom of their posters including their film website which usually has a logo about the film company such as “shank”. So if I had a film website then I could have created a cohesion between my poster and film website using synergy because I have included a reference to the website on my poster which would boost more awareness towards my film and also encourage the audience to read the film review.

The film review created is the main link between my ancillary tasks and film. The film review features information about the film and what sort of genre the film falls into. By including these texts in the website it allows the audience to engage with the film and download the posters to view. The film review also promotes actors, magazines and producers.

EVALUATION : In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the conventions of real media products?

Before we began to create our products (Short film, Poster and Double page spread), me and Naomi researched into short films in order to use, challenge and develop the conventions of a short film. We also researched genres of posters and advertising of film reviews for the existing films. In my research I found out how long short films usually last, what sort of mise en scene they intend to have and also noted what sort of companies specialize in short films. Focusing on our desire to create a documentary crime/gangster short film, we decided that due to the sensitivity needed around the storyline for our film, our intended audience would be mainly teenage males between 14 -21. The main demographic code that would be attracted to our short film would be people that have had an effective past life that inspires them to move forward and strive for success in the future. Mainstream viewers could also make up a large part of our audience as they would use our short film as a basis for social interaction, and would also see the educational appeal.

The film that we developed our idea’s from was “Shank” The main character in this film is a boy whose brother got killed by youths around the area and he is trying to seek revenge by killing the character that murdered his brother, he talks about his life as teenage boy and there is a good use of flashbacks onto how he ended up where he is now. Our film “A New Ending” is based around London and we made sure that we signified this by the use of slang, costumes, and accents. During the film the main character is telling his story to the audience we decided to do a voice over so the audience could see images in order to understand the storyline the ending however reveals the main character is actually talking to his brother threw a letter.

 A key convention to short films is shots being taken from many people’s viewpoints, in our film this was paramount when the character of Marlon as a young child was watching the argument that was happening between his mother and his older brother, and this is also used in the gang scene when one of the gang members is following behind the main gang member.

Cinematography which is  how the film was made, the mise en scene consisted of inside and outside setting made us think of how the weather and lighting would be. The lighting inside the house was looked great just from the use of light bulbs and candles on the birthday cake. On the other hand filming outside was where the problems occurred because it was too dark the black and white effect did not really stand out and made certain running scenes look fuzzy, it also made it harder to see the characters faces but then at the same time it went along with the gang culture atmosphere we were trying to create.

                                 

 

We thought the acting was really. The mother seemed like she had a very distant relationship with her children, and the main characters emotions in his voice felt like he meant everything he was saying. We found some inspiration on costumes from films such as “Kidulthood” The fact that the characters were dressed up in tracksuits, blacked out and hooded up and slang was used such as “mad hours” makes the audience realize this is most likely to be set in a town somewhere in London. The boys were dressed like the majority of teenage boys dressed in London from their hoodies to their trainers. We didn’t create a specific style because we wanted to focus on representing teenage males in the modern society. The way that the mother was dressed which was in an over sized top, leggings, and tights around her head shows that she doesn’t really care about how she looks or she is more interested in other things rather than how she dresses. The main character however is not wearing tracksuits but jeans and a white top from the first few seconds of the first scene we receive a close up of his face reveals that he is the main character.

           

 

We used Todorov’s narrative theory of equilibrium – disequilibrium and new equilibrium when planning the plot for our film. When creating our short film, we focused not just on showing the first equilibrium – Marlon’s life as a young boy, but also the beginning of the disequilibrium – The brother who got killed. it enabled us to create a story on what Marlon was going to do in order for him not to end up like his brother Todorov argued that narrative involves a transformation, the characters or the situations are transformed through the progress of the disruption. In the case of our film this is shown through Marlon striving for success not only for himself but for his brother who did not die the way he was meant to, so in a way it’s a transformation from his brother to himself. 

A typical convention of any film is having the titles appear at the end, this stated information about the names of the actors/screenplay/directors etc. Adobe Premiere Pro was good to use in creating the titles, as the main storyline surrounds a lot of fade in and outs therefore when we made the title saying “A New Ending” fade in and then out whilst introducing the main character.  


Grime (urban music emerged in London ) 'dangerous' in today's media and a bad influence on teenagers, I wanted this to be part of the film where the killing occurred and his voice was getting more and more frustrated, I decided to use a slow song at the beginning and end of the film where his voice was  calm and it flowed with the scenes.

For my poster to go with the film, I added  reviews which are used to entice people to go and see the film, this a very common in film posters I also added in statements from magazines and newspapers. At the bottom showed the information on how the film was produced, who was involved and also the actors that starred in it. My poster has the title and a picture in each word of the title, the pictures represent that word indirectly and you would only understand if you was to watch the film.

Many film reviews show an “exclusive interview with one of the cast members however I chose to do an article on what the film is about, what kind of film it is, and what people thought of it adding in my own strengths and weaknesses towards the film. I added a main image of the main character when he was young looking down at the review and also created my own magazine name to make it seem more realistic.