Media Evaluation
In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Link to Prezi)
How does my media product represent particular social groups?
How does my media product represent particular social groups?
Our film opening’s characters are all somewhere between the ages of adolescence and adulthood, but the theme of a post-apocalyptic world creates the idea that modern stereotypes and social groups are redundant as everyone is fighting for survival, which creates a social group of people who are forced to mature quickly and wise up, often beyond their years. 
The two main characters of my opening scene.
In the film ‘The Book Of Eli’ the main character is presented as someone who is alone and as a result his character is forced to abandon all expected stereotypes and fend for himself. This aspect of the characters, however, is open to interpretation to maintain the mysterious atmosphere of our opening.
What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?
The film companies and distributors we created – entitled ‘Steamtrain Productions’ and ‘Abandon Ship Distribution’, respectively, connote the rough, industrial ambience of our opening.
Our film opening is a dark thriller which is enjoyed by a wide range of audiences so it is suitable for production by both small independent companies such as Working Title, and large-scale producers such as Universal. Personally, I feel that our film opening would benefit from production by a smaller independent companies as though larger-budget films from larger production companies sell more I think that an independent company would not over-embellish the film and it would retain some of its natural grittiness which I find effective. Ways to distribute our film could also be through online means such as sites like Netflix who offer an online film service, whilst other (free) video services such as Youtube could be used for advertisement purposes such as showing a trailer for the film, and this could also be used as a method of gaining feedback.
Who would be the audience for my media product? (Link to Prezi)
What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Our film opening is a dark thriller which is enjoyed by a wide range of audiences so it is suitable for production by both small independent companies such as Working Title, and large-scale producers such as Universal. Personally, I feel that our film opening would benefit from production by a smaller independent companies as though larger-budget films from larger production companies sell more I think that an independent company would not over-embellish the film and it would retain some of its natural grittiness which I find effective. Ways to distribute our film could also be through online means such as sites like Netflix who offer an online film service, whilst other (free) video services such as Youtube could be used for advertisement purposes such as showing a trailer for the film, and this could also be used as a method of gaining feedback.
Who would be the audience for my media product? (Link to Prezi)
What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Technologically I feel that I have become much more confident with the process of editing and sound work. We originally used Mac computers to edit but found this difficult because we hadn’t used the editing software on there before, so we changed to using Windows and the program Sony Vegas Pro because we didn’t want to compromise the quality of the end product by using unfamiliar equipment. We did, however, use Macs to create the first draft of our film which gave us a wider experience with different editing software, which is beneficial for the future if we choose to use Macs as they are generally regarded as more credible when it comes to film editing. We used a Panasonic Lumix G2 DSLR camera to shoot the footage for both our rough drafts and our final product. These kinds of cameras are used in independent films as they provide a more rough homemade feel to films as they are handheld. They also produce professional-style footage as they can change the depth of field used within a shot, allowing the focus to be changed. The files are also easy to upload and edit which was beneficial as most of our group was unfamiliar with this style of camera.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Our preliminary task.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Our final product.
Our preliminary task.
Overall, I feel that I have learnt much more about the dynamics of camera angles and lighting within a shot than I did before, which is a crucial part of both our film opening and film in general. I have also become more confident with editing software and layering sounds within a clip, both of which are an integral skill in creating a film. It is evident from looking at the original rough cut footage of our film opening compared with the final film edit that each member of our group has become more confident in acting, directing and shooting footage than before, and the quality of our film has improved greatly as a result. Another factor in improving our film is that between filming the original rough cut and the final cut we improved the location and the aesthetic surroundings which is probably the most important factor of our film opening as a whole. I have also become better at finding film openings with genres that would relate to our product which I can often use to make improvements to our film opening. Overall, I feel we created a credible film opening within the thriller genre which would be enjoyed by our target audience and also be widely marketable.
