Evaluation question 7

From looking at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I think as a group we have come a long way in the progression and standard of our media texts. I think we have improved in every part of making a film and I think we have progressed well.
In the preliminary task we were asked to make a short film and in the final product we were asked to make a opening scene. When we started the preliminary task we didn't really know a lot about the different types f camera shots and angles. We had learnt them but we had never used them before so we probably didn't use them as effectively as we would of liked it to.

This is a screenshot from the opening scene within our preliminary task. You cannot see from this buy this was a little shaky because we didn't use a tri pod. this is compared to our newest opening scene task where the camera was never shaky unless intentional.

The planning for our opening scene was a lot more organised and we completed this much quickly because we knew exactly what we had to do as we have had some practice before and had completed it. This made it much easier for us as the quicker we planned what were had to do then the quicker we could go out and film and spend more time filing and editing. An example of this is when we completed the storyboard we stated which shots we should be using for each one so when we went to film we would know where to set up and exactly where we needed to be meaning it wouldn't take us long to film. this made the filming much smoother and meant that we would have more time to edit.

Some of the camera shots we also used improved a lot because in our preliminary task we used an over the shoulder/tracking shot which was slightly shaky whereas when we used this shot in our opening scene we had the tripod so it allowed the camera to move smoothly. We also made sure that we followed the 180 degree rule, math on action and shot reverse shots and used them effectively which was important because these are all important when it comes to camera.  

When it came to me using the camera and the Mac to edit I felt much more comfortable to use them both with the opening scene. Previously I had never used these equipment before so I was a bit unsure what I was doing but over the year I had practiced meaning that I was more comfortable and new exactly what I was doing on them meaning I could use them more effectively and concluding in giving it a more professional look.

I think the end product of our opening scene was overall good. We had good feedback from people but the only problem we had with it as a group is that we thought it was too short. If we had more time we would have gone back to make it a bit longer and add more in. I think it was good though because our film created a lot of tension and made the audience ask a lot of questions such as "who is this man? what is he doing?" which was our intentions.  

Evaluation question 6

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

Overall I think the camera that we used was very good. It showed what we filmed in good quality and it was very simple to use. I liked using it because I found it quite easy and I felt comfortable enough to use it by myself and it was a big step up from the camera used in the preliminary task. We also used a dolly for our camera this time which allowed our camera to move much smoother for tracking shots so as long as were on flat ground it would run smoothly.

When we was filming the only problem we faced was outside interference from other people. this was a problem because we did not have the right to tell people t get out our shot so we would have to wait for them to move patiently but this took up a lot of time. This wasn't a huge problem however because as soon as they were out of the shot it would mean that we could start filming again so this problem was not too difficult to over come.

For the editing we used iMovie. I think this was a good programme to use because it was quite simple to understand and I am not normally good with things like editing but I found this quite easy to use meaning I could edit effectively. It allowed us to use different effects in order to make our film look more of an action film and also allowed us to hide some of our mistakes. An example of this is when the man at the front door was wearing a helmet and you could see the person filming him in the lens but because of the effect you could not see the camera man.

Another mistake we made was that in the opening scene it shows the alarm going off and the time on the phone which was not a realistic time to wake up. We could have changed this by going back and filming but we did not have the time and it was not an obvious mistake.

As a group I think we worked well because we are all good friends so this allowed us to cooperate well and work together. I enjoyed working with them because I feel like we are all on the same wave length and understand each other.

We have been logging our work by the software 'blogger' which I think is good. I liked it because I like to do my work electronically but the issue I had with it was that I didn't embed some of the images and pictures on but only copy and pasted them on which does not show them. I also had the issue of moving the pictures about because it was hard to control where they went and I found it frustrating at times.

Evaluation question 5

Evaluation question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Certification has to be thought about when thinking of the target audience for our film. This is because if our film is going to be an 18, then this would mean it is not going to be available to watch for a wide selection of people e.g. 16 year olds who are still in our target audience. Our film was chosen to be a 15 because that is the general starting age for people who like action films so we decided to make sure we did not use anything in our film which would declare it an 18.

We would expect our target audience to be from the age of 15 up to about 30 because this is the age group which tend to like action films and go to see them. We would also mainly expect them to be males because stereotypical they are the ones which watch action films because they are seen to be more manly.

I would expect my target audience to watch a few action films before and watch programmes on TV such as 24 because they relate to action and use lots of generic conventions. These include conventions such as guns just like in action film which might entice people in to watch them because it excites them as an audience.  I would also expect the target audience to be quite open because as t is a mainstream film it isn't just going to pick out a certain type of people therefore it is going to be a majority of people who would like the film and be quite different from each other.

Evaluation question 3

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

When it comes to film companies, you get different types of companies for example mainstream and independent. Mainstream films have a lot more money to invest in bigger actors and spend on the making of their film. They will also be targeting the film at a large market instead of just a niche audience. This is different when it comes to independent films because it is aimed at a niche audience and they will have lot less money to send on a film therefore they will have less known actors and will aim their film at a particular audience.
An example of a mainstream production company would be Disney whereas a independent would be Film4.

To get funding from our film, the money might have come from previous films that were made and made a lot of money so they invested it in our film. The distributors are the company's that will take your movie to the cinemas and 'distribute' which ones they are going to be shown in and how many screens they will be on.

Our film would be a mainstream film because we have targeted it at a big audience as it is an action film and uses generic conventions of an action film in. This means we would like companies such as Warner Bros. to distribute our film to cinemas such as Odeon because this is  place where they show mainstream films. This kind of company is one of the big 6 meaning that it is going to be a mainstream film company therefore they are only going to want to distribute mainstream films. A similar film to ours that might be released in the same way could be Taken. This is a well known action film like ours so this is why I used this particular comparison.

Evaluation question- 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Within our film opening only two characters are shown and the characters which are shown are not properly introduced. We have done this purposely in order for the audience to not know too much about each of the characters in order for them to ask questions.

The age is shown within the film opening to a certain extent because you can see the rough build of the main character which is introduced from the start. We have only allowed the audience to be able to have a rough guess at the age of the character because you cannot see the face at all to detect facial hair etc. This is because we did not want the audience knowing too much at this stage of the film so they ask questions to themselves in order to attract them in too watch the rest.
You could also guess the rough age of the character by what he is earing. You could see that they were wearing a suit and older men will ted to wear suits when going to work so this gave the audience an idea it was not going to be a young person.














Here is a screenshot of the protagonist and what he is wearing (a suit). You can tell from this frame that this man is not going to be below the age of 18 therefore makes our piece look more professional because we have an adult playing an adults character.  



Evaluation question 1

Our film is about a hit man getting beat at his own game. In the start another hit man arrives at his house ready to give him a taste of his own medicine.

 

 

This is one of the institutional logos for our film. When played it has non diegetic sound and from listening to it, it lets you understand that it is of the action genre because it is faced paced.

This is a picture from the opening scene of the film. It is purposely in a low key lighting because from watching other action films it ids often quit dingy to start with ad creates some tension because it makes the audience think there is not something quite right.

This screenshot is of the main films title. I have mixed opinions about this because I think it is good because it is very big and bold and the colours we have used are from the action genre (silver metal). The problem I have noticed with the title though is that I think it is not clear enough and doesn't have a sharp enough effect to this. when it was created I think we could have made sure we created it in a better programme in order for it to have more quality and look better.

This picture is showing a CCTV shot during the film. I think this is good because it is a generic convention in a lot of action films. although it is not a generic conventions I think there is still a few action films which use them so it gives our film a bit of something different.
this shot also shows the antagonist with a helmet on so he is unidentified. I think this was a good idea to do this because it is a generic convention to not show the antagonist straight away but have him/her covered up as it builds tension for the audience.

This is a simple screenshot of the protagonist holding a gun. A gun is one of the main generic conventions in an action film and you will struggle to find an action film without a pistol used.  although this is just a simple example of a generic convention it is probably the biggest one and most used by action film makers.

This screenshot shows knives in the background. Even though they are just kitchen knives used for bread, if the audience see the knives then it will click in their head that they can be used as weapons and it just clarifies to them that they are just watching an action film.

This screenshot shows a kitchen table with flowers sitting on it. This reminds the audience that this hitman has a family and is almost like an ordinary family whereas he is a hitman as a job. I have seen this used before in past films so we thought it would be a good way to illustrate this particular character.

 



This last picture is showing the man on CCTV riding a motor bike to the protagonists' house. Motor bikes are often used in action film because they are seen to be manly forms of transport.