Evaluation

12Mar10

In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Drama conventions take the issues in real life and portray them onto film in a realistic way, which i feel we have done in our film. We have used the idea that drugs, drinking, fights and so on do exist in young people today and exploited it on our film. We used the idea of in-depth development of characters by showing what it is that makes Lexi using the memory scenes that are in black and white which show her friend and their “habits”. Tragedy dramas are based in the characters having a fatal flaw or major error in judgment for the main character leading tho their eventual down fall. We used this by starting with Lexis downfall, as it shows her leaning over a sink, breathing heavily showing the strain of her chosen lifestyle and her inability to cope with it. This is similar to “Rock’n Rolla” who also use the method of quick flashes (of sex, drugs, and shootings) showing the dramatised life and real issues on the world.

How does your media product represent particular social groups? And how would you attract your audience?

The only represented group in our media for the first 2 minutes of that of young adult/ teenagers. We have presented them in the stereotypical light of being out of control, wild and dangerously out of touch with the real world and life. This can been seen in an article in the daily mail; Article on out of control teenagers in Britain.

We showed the age of our characters by the clothes they wore. We chose young, and fashionable clothes to identify with the young audience. For example we had Beth (as Lexi) dressed in a  black lace dress, which is currently in high demand for fashion, and notable associated with going out to “town” in the evenings. The red lipstick was wore to make a link to the 1940’s style make up that is now in with young adults. We made both Beth and Katys (Pixie the druggie) hair as large as possible, as this is common today, with wild and uncontrollable curls. With Hannah’s costume (Playing dan) we had the classic image of “thug” by having a beanie hat on with a hood over the top, as this is commonly associated with youth that are up to no good. (See article: Hoodie ban in London mall. Ref: line 5: favoured by young thugs). With Myself, in the fight scene I was wearing dark gray trackies, and a short sleeved polo shit with the collar up and a bright pink and blue “Von Dutch” hat (a make that is now commonly assiciated with young chavs, who have also adopted the line; “Von B*tch”). This was once again to be associated with the chav youth, that wear tracksuits and caps and are related to crimes of stealing and anti social behaviour.

The language used was also an indication of the age group represented, as the only words were “You f****** starting then?” which is a commonly disgusting phrase used when a young chav is wanted to start a fight. The audience we are aiming for would be fully aware of this.

We would attract our audience by making it relatable to the audience as a whole. The youth of the actors would be able to relate to the age group in mind, with the young fashion and styles within the film. The plot also has this draw as it involves situations that most young adults would experience in their youth and be able to empathise with.

The title is very short and catchy, making the audience wonder what the title has in relation to the short film, as it is a unexplanitory title.

The opening is very rushed, and vague leaving the audience with little knowledge of the main character, but enough of her life to want to understand why she is leaning over a sink out of breath and looking rough.

In the sense of attracting the audience we would obviously have trailers and posters. The trailers w3ould be on TV after 9o’clock because of the nature and rating of this film, therefore meeting attracting the late teenager audience that stay up to watch the programmes that late. The posters would be in bus stops because the age of our aimed audience is quite young, so would be non or new drivers thus use public transport frequently, so would see the posters often.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media and why?

Dark castle Entertainment, up untill 2008 were renowned for producing Horrors, but have since moved away towards more Dramas such as Rockn’ Rolla, so this would most likely be the kind of distributing company used for a our media, as it best represents the dark edge and grittyness of the movie that we are trying to achieve.

Another possiblilty for the backing company for our film could be Film 4, as our film would be quite small scale, aimed at a british audience, not a large hollywood company. Film 4 supports this idea because it shows films that are less main stream and closely drama related, such as;

‘This is England’

‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The age certificate for our media is 18, so that age would obviously be above that but because it is a film a bout young adults we would want ti appeal to the young end, as close to 18 as possible. This would mean advertising during popular programmes such as “Skins” that are on after 9 (so fit the legal requirements for when 18 trailers may be shown) but also a youth programme watched by the age group we desire. This would also mean advertising at the beginning of youth films that 18’s in the cinema. Posters in J17 (A magazine for 17+) would also be sufficient at getting the right audience. Feedback from ages 16 – 69 was taken out and it was found that people under the age of 25 were more likely to be interested in the film as they could relate to it in age wise.

The film is based more on the female characters, so probably would interest many boys, so the advertising and marketing would have to be aimed at them showing adverts in between shows such as; “Gossip girl” and “90210”. In a survey 7 out of 10 boys said they would not be interested in the story line of the film. Where as only 1 out of 10 girls said that.

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

As an unexperience camera woman i had not before used a camera to this extend, only using it at family events (and for filming the floor and ceiling by accident!) But now i am aware of the white balance, and how to use it to make the scene seem more realistic  and true to the colours of the real scene. I can use different angles to my advantage to get the effect that I desire and creat obscure view points for my audience.

Editing was particularly new to me and i had never before used the programme Pinical before now. I learnt how to cut scenes in the correct places and piece them together to make them flow smoothly, then i am now able to add titles to the given piece, including rolling credits. I can successfully change the colour balance and saturation on a clip and match it with another, along with effects added to transitions on my film.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt  in the progression from it to the full project?

I have learned about mainly, the lighting and how important it is to a shot. In the Prelim one of out shots light changed drastically, because of where we had placed the camera and where the light was coming in the window. Also another factor that was important was how important continuity is with acting, because the slightest change will make the clip void and unusable, and could affect the overall piece.

Filed under: Uncategorized   |  Leave a Comment