Evaluation

Evaluation

Question 1:

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

Task compare 9 shots from a title sequence for a thriller opening on www.artofthetitle.com with 9 stills from your own title sequence to show how your opening uses, develops or challenges the forms and conventions of real media products.

1)

-This is a close up shot on the colouring book in ‘To Kill a mockingbird’ and our burn book scene from ‘vanity’s’ bitch.’ Both scenes convey an intense emotion through the key prop, which is the ‘pen.’

2)

These are both mid shots that differ in angle but pan across the objects within the room. It creates a childlike sense and fascinates the viewer allowing them to question the age and mentality of this person, this gives it a sort of dramatic nostalgic sense. Thereby making it successful as a thriller.

3)

-Both these shots are similar in composition. The positioning of both hands creates a sense of possessive attitude towards each object (To kill a mocking birds 'box' and the 'doll' in vanity’s bitch) thereby creating creepy thriller like sense. The shots are both within an almost mid close-up range however they defer within the shot angle.

4)

-These shots are both close ups focusing on our protagonists hands picking up a desired object (in this case a pen for to kill a mocking bird and a scarf for vanity's bitch). Both shots are well lit and in focus reinforcing the liking for this particular object.

However Vanity's bitch appears more glamorous and is in colour whereas To kill a mocking bird is in gray scale. The gray scale creates a sense that this actual scene could have possibly taken place in the protagonists past. For Vanity's bitch it further intensifies the protagonists liking for perfection and unveils their serene mentality more prominently.

5)

In regards to how the actual title text commences in view, both To kill a mocking bird and Vanity's bitch have distinct methods of presenting this. The title for To kill a mocking bird simply appears after the young child scribbles across a paper, this represents a childlike imagery of the character. The font is solid and simple thereby creating a mystery like sense. Nevertheless, The title for Vanity's bitch first appears small in size and then increases as the shot transition changes to the protagonists face 'smiling' after just scribbling a face in her burn book. Immediately the viewer can anticipate this characters feelings and attitude. She smiles as the words 'Vanity's bitch' appears under her.

6)

These are both close up shots of a certain object whose purpose is very much stressed on. For my thriller 'Vanity's bitch' the image has been edited to be in and out of focus on the doll (after it has just been cut up). The scene is in red as we felt red emphasised a semantic field of death, evil and blood. This reinforces the evilness and twisted mind of our protagonist and shocking the viewer in a sense.

7)

Both these clips represent panning on a profoundly lit surface of objects. The are similar within the composition, range and camera shot. However they differ in lighting obviously as the gray scale from to Kill a Mocking bird makes the scene seem old fashioned and slightly unburnished.

8)

Both scenes are similar in the way the protagonists are deeply focused on there interests. The camera angles are similar as they exemplify the characters actions closely and perfectly. Both scenes are not paced and are slow in order to create this impact.

9)

Both these scenes execute a good close up of it's object. The close up impacts on the mood and atmosphere dramatically. For our film it emphasises the protagonist as evil and for To Kill A Mockingbird it represents the crafty-ness of their character.

Question 2:

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our protagonist is what you'd refer as a stereotypical girly girl, we've emphasised this through the mise en scene. We've used props such as an excessive amount of dolls, makeup, accessories and even a girly setting (Imogen's room). This impacts on her obsessive compulsive behaviour. Our character wears a dress, jewelry and we had a close shot on her slowly painting her nails in order for her to be seen as a perfectionist. This allows the viewer to interpret, judge and be shocked by her attitude.

Both vain...

I was doing the acting within our movie opening and so my character was inspired by Regina George (Rachel McAdams) In the movie Mean Girls. Regina is a very vain and self centered person and she constantly has a smile on her face when committing evil. Therefore making Regina similar to my character. Also the burn book scene we had was a great inspiration from Mean Girls.

Question 3 and 4

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How will you attract/address your target audience?

This is the work of a group of high school students work made for fun. The movie is a Thriller/Horror about a girl in her home with a killer. I found this video when I searched 'Amateur Horror movies' it has a high number of hits.

It most likely gained hits by gaining popularity through the use of social networking sites and by word of mouth. Friends who have seen this could post this onto social networking sites such as myspace bebo or facebook and this could then be seen by all of this users friends.

The product could also be marketed

We have to bare in mind that this is similar to the amateur movie I have posted above there for meaning much media attention will not be received. However there are many other distinct ways in targeting our audience;

We could screen the movie at low budget indie cinemas

Send out flyers, leaflets and posters (To see the movie at independant cinemas)

Social networking sites as stated above!

Make it's way to video sharing sites where it can then be seen by many, rated and commented on.

And hopefully the video maybe discovered by a well known multi-millionaire movie producer whom will like the idea and think about actually releasing a mainstream version of it ;)

MR.STEVEN SPIELBERG

Video sharing sites have been used to market many things, some movies whom started of indie made it into the mainstream. Not only movies but sites such as youtube are good for marketing products such as cosmetics and even your own music and talent!

Question 5:

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Create a montage of images depicting the contents of the handbag/manbag belonging to a typical target member for your movie. Write up a little lifestyle summary.

This is Maria's handbag, she i 15 years old and is a student. She has a part time job at Top shop and wants to be an aspiring fashion designer. Maria loves to shop in mainstream highstreet stores. She says the film would appeal to her as it sends an important message about how ones obsession with material goods can lead to harmful consequences. In this case obsessive compulsive disorder which leads the protagonist to kill. She says although this is an unrealistic situation there are other affects such as suicide which are affecting a lot of young girls her age. This is Maria's personal opinion.

Question 6: What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Screen Shots:

1) Final cut pro

We used final cut pro software to import order and edit our clips. We shortened some shots for a faster pace and edited some shots by adding filters and transitions.

2) Live type

We used this software to input titles onto our soundtrack pro

3) Sound track pro

We re-searched for some music that related to our scenes and enhanced some sections of music using this software.

4) Youtube

We used youtube in order to get some ideas for our movie. We watched se7en and other movie openings in order to see how they successfully executed there camera work, props and editing. We were also influenced by se7en on the editing.

5) Artofthetitle.com

We used art of the title in order to compare some shots of our movie opening to one from the website (for question one above). In this case I compared our movie opening to 'To kill a Mockingbird.'

Question 7:

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progress?

Prelim number 1

This shot is executed pretty well and is in a close up range of Kayleighs face as she slowly turns her head. You can interpret her character as mysterious, quick witted and that almost 'I've been expecting you' kind of person. However we did realise our lighting was pretty dim which ruined the whole effect. If it were brighter it would have further enhanced her features and further impact on her character.

prelim number 2

Within this clip we attempted to get an over the shoulder type shot. In my opinion I believe this was also executed pretty well however again the lighting was very dim, but the after receiving some feedback from fellow pupils they suggested the dimness sort of created that eery and dark sense when Filipa says 'hello mother'

prelim number 3

The computers in the back sort of killed the whole scene. Although some of the props were ok such as Kayleighs head turban which gave her that mystical fortune teller appearance the computers in my opinion ruined that whole mystical affect. The camera shot was at a midrange however I believe it should have been slightly tilted in order for you to view Filipas face. However the diegetic sound of kayleighs accent although was a very affective in presenting her character.

As you can see our preliminary videos differ majorly from the final outcome we produced. The prelim allowed us to learn from our mistakes.

Prelim number 4 (Match cut exersise)

My group really liked this video because the execution of the match shots were very good. We like the continuity of it. the lighting and overall mise en scene make it professional alongside the dissolve transitions that we used.

We could however have a few more close ups on the eyes and speed them up to create more tension.

Question 8:

Audience feedback and comments?

This is a wordle of our classes feedback and comments they made on our movie opening.

Luke's Interview (Feedback)

We got great feedback from Luke which was useful. Majority of the feedback we received was positive but we made a few critisism about our work. We felt we needed more camera shots to work from and more time to device a better soundtrack. We also felt the editing and all could have had a few more tweeks.