Critical Evaluation

1)In what ways does the media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real Mediaa products?

When filming continuity is a major factor enabling a film to be believable to an audience

and so it would make sense to them. So with this in mind we kept a conscious watch on anything that could break the continuity in the film. However, throughout filming we found that minor problems occurred which broke the continuity, mainly things like props broke the continuity, for example, at the beginning of the film you will see the main character with a brown bag, however later on she has a black bag, this is due to the fact that half way through filming the original brown bag broke so we had to find another bag in time for filming. Throughout our film we have kept to the 180 degree rule, making sure that even when re filming or editing we did not change the 180 degree shot. Also we used different shots used in media productions; these are eye line match, graphic match.

Our film would be classed as a thriller mainly because we used several of the known conventions of the genre thriller; some of these are Minor Music, Plot twist and damsel in distress.Minor music is used to create suspense and a dramatic atmosphere for the audience; we use this in the 1st and last scene, both which are important scenes as it’s the finding and getting rid of the necklace scenes. Plot twists are used to keep the audience’s attention throughout the film, which creates more suspense for the audience.Damsels in distress are normally the main character needing rescuing, our film is no different, and our main character is getting bullied and has been put in a bad situation with the necklace.Also because of the couple of audience feedback sessions I undertook. The idea for our film is completely original, there are of course certain aspects that are used in different films such as the invisibility effect that is used most famously in Harry Potter, however the idea of it being a necklace and the events that happen in the film are original, the ideas coming from what we as a group knew about the genre and film conventions. Our main goal throughout making our film was that the audience would get entertainment throughout the film but also to identify slightly with the characters.

We did this by adding a well known issue today, bullying, this would make some of the audience identify with the character as many people have suffered bullying. However we also wanted to entertain the audience so added in interesting plot twists. Overall I feel that out film is entertaining for the audiences whilst keeping in track with the conventions of our genre.

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The overall objective for our main product was to have created a realistic and effective short film that would entertain and attract audiences. Whilst doing this we wanted to relate the film to a popular issue that is big in the country at the minute, bullying. We wanted to create the message that even though you are getting bullied; going invisible or hiding isn't always the best solution to the problem and you should confront your problems not shy away from them.We also kept onto this theme throughout the different media texts we created. On our poster we used the tag line of “All she ever wanted was to be invisible”. We also used this line in our radio trailer, in a whisper. Another tag line we used in our radio trailer was “Sometimes your biggest wish could become your worst nightmare” this relates to the popular saying “Be careful what you wish for”. All of these sayings again help us portray across to the audience that wanting to be invisible or to disappear isn't going to really help or solve your problems, no matter what they are. However whilst wanting to get across this message we also wanted both the radio

trailer and poster to be realistic and believable. To do this we looked at what real radio trailers and real film posters included and adopted them into our own.

In our poster we included; Title, Age certificate, Tag line, extra

information, Image. All of which are included in all of existing film posters.

In our radio trailer we included; Information quotes from the film, music. All of which are included in all existing radio trailers.

Our Radio Trailer:

Existing Radio Trailer:

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

When we 1st started to think of ideas for our film we handed out a questionnaire to people in our target audience, we then filmed their answers on a Sony HDV camera. By doing this we got a general idea of what our target audience expected in to see in our genre of film and also within the restrictions of our chosen target audience guidance. This further helped on the bits we wanted audience to relate more to like the main character.

After we had complete our rough edit we did an audience feedback session, recording them again on a Sony HDV camera, we then separately did different audience feed backs, giving us more outcome than if we did just one audience feedback. I used the website www.facebook.com , on this I asked a select few people what they thought of the rough edit and then what they thought could be improved before the final cut. Overall I felt that by getting the thoughts of our target audience helped greatly as it helped us to know if we had made an effective short film that was believable and stuck to the main conventions of our genre, also it helped us to improve any scenes that needed changing.

4) How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

At the beginning of the project research was a major part of it, researching different aspects of genres of films and different films. For this I used websites such as www.google.com and www.youtube.com

I also used the website www.blogger.com to keep track of the progression of the film making journey. By doing these my research and blogging skills have improved, making me more advanced in these areas, and making it easier in later years if I needed to use either of these again.

To make our film I used a Sony HDV camera and Tri-pod to film the scenes in the film. By using these I have improved my camera skills and have a better knowledge on how to

effect film shots to portray messages, also this has helped me greatly to understand how to use the camera efficiently and effectively for future use. The Sony HDV camera is extremely effective when filming on it and easy to use in any location. The only problem the occurred during filming was on one scene at the lake, the white balance was off, so we had to edit it later.

When editing our film, I used Final cut express, on a Mac computer. This programme is very effective and has helped improve my creativity in order to edit our film into a successful final piece. I have improved my editing skills and now know that I can use this programme confidently in the future if ever needed to. After using this programme I understand what different effects do what and how it can make your film more effective

and how certain effects won’t work. In our film the most effective effects include the cross dissolve, speeding a shot up and garage matt. There were hardly any problems that occurred whilst editing our film the only major problem was the Mac computers crashing and work not being saved.

For the final poster we used programme Photoshop to design and create our films poster. I used the tools available to edit the photo for our poster and to insert text and other features of posters. However for my individual poster, I used paint and www.picnik.com to create an effective poster, which would later contribute to our final poster.To create our radio trailer for our film Garage Band was used. We used a zoom recorder to record the sound for our radio trailer and then added it to the software to create an effective radio trailer. I now feel that I am more confident in using these different software, enabling me to confidently use them in the future and not have to worry about not being able to use them.

Overall I feel that all of the new media technologies I have used have helped to improve my media skills and on the whole have developed my creativity. I feel that any problems I encounter throughout the process I overcame, and made me more confident in using these technologies, and enabled me to create an effective final piece.

Final Production - SHADOW

Final Radio Trailer

This is our final radio trailer, we added a few screenshots onto the video in order to make it more appealing to watch/listen to.

Radio Trailer - Analysis

This is a radio trailer for David Tennant’s final episode in BBC1's Doctor who series. It was played on well known radio stations and helped produce a large audience for the final episode. It lasts 38 seconds and contains several common elements of radio trailers, these are;
Quotes from the show
Information of the show (where it’s shown, the times, and the date)
Music
Voiceovers

As soon as the advert the BBC jingle is played with a female voiceover telling you the date the show is been broadcasted “On new year’s day” and the channel it is on “On BBC one”. This straight away tells the audience when it is on, and telling the audience what channel it is on, pulling in more of an audience as they will know when it’s on and audiences that like BBC programmes.

On the advert it continues with quotes from the show, ones that draw in the audience like, “it’s the time lord” this will make the listener want to know what’s happened to him, or what’s going to happen to him. Also by referring to this character by ‘The Time Lord’ it hints at what the show is, and also what genre the show is, and could bring in audience who like the Sci-fi genre, as Doctor who is in the Sci-fi genre.
All throughout the piece non-diegetic music, in minor key, is played, it starts off quiet and low but as the advert continues, it gets louder and more drum beats are included creating more suspense as dramatic quotes are used from the show.
All of the quotes from the show are from male characters and even a few are from the Doctor himself. The female voice over from the beginning, is heard again throughout “The 10th Doctors final chapter” this give the audience some more information about what’s going to happen in the show, but also the line is dramatic and causes suspense, making a listener wanting to find out what happens to him.
As with most radio trailers they end with the main information about the show. The same female voice gives information about where the show can be seen and at what time. The music never stops, getting louder and more intense as the voice over speaks, also in the background there are still quotes from the show, making the ending more dramatic than the rest of the trailer, and this would make the listener want to watch it more, as the show seems to be full of drama and suspense.

Radio's can only project sound to their audiences, so therefore radio trailers have to engross a lot of interesting and captivating sounds. This trailer does this effectively as it uses voices, music and sound effects from the show. These make the trailer more interesting and appealing to listen to and will therefore help produce a larger audience.

Radio Trailer Script Idea

This is my idea for our radio trailer, it will last approximately 30 seconds.

Female voice: Sometimes your biggest wish can be your worst nightmare.
Minor music fades in
Voice 1: “Rubbbbbbyyyyy”
Ruby: “Just leave me alone”
Ruby: “why are you ignoring me?”
Ruby: "How could you do this to me?"
Male Voiceover: A Red Lizard Production, Film 4 presents...SHADOW...Coming to a cinema near you.
Minor music fades out

Film Poster Analysis

Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and distributed by Fox Searchlight pictures. It is a successful film, costing only $13million to produce and by the end of February 2011 the box office gross was over $100million. One of the main reasons why this film did so well, and is still doing so well is the advertising campaign, the use of the posters, adverts and trailers, all in which are extremely effective. This particular poster is the most iconic poster of the film it was used in the majority of adverts including cinema posters, bus stops and billboard

The focal point of the poster or the most eye catching part of the poster is the girl’s eyes and eye makeup. The eye makeup of the girl is big and bold, because the design around her eyes is black, this contrasts with the rest of her face as she is all white, so the fact her eyes are black suggests that there is a dark side to her, also the shape of the design is like swans wings, another suggestion that the film has something to do with “Black Swans”. Also if you look a bit closer , and look into her eyes, you see that they are red, normally red eyes suggests someone evil or dark, so this further suggests that this girl isn't all good, or that something is going to happen to this girl. The rest of the image seems to be blurry, making it harder to look at forcing your eyes look straight to the girl’s eyes.

The whole image on the poster is of the main character in the film, thefact her face is painted in white suggests purity of this character. However like previously said her eyes are black, suggesting that she’s not as ‘pure’ as first thought, but also her lips are dark purple, also suggesting that this character has a darker/ deeper side to her. In the picture, the girl has her hair tied back in what looks like a tight bun, with a crown on her head; this suggests that she could be in a dance/ballet performance of something to do with royalty.

The background of the poster is white, this suggest purity and goodness, which again is contradicted by the darkness on the girls makeup.

The writing “Black Swan” is black and elegant, this suggests that it could be a film that seems to be about ballet, or another type of classic dance. However, the rest of the writing is pale purples, this contrasts with the black writing, but again makes the again makes the poster have a elegant, purity theme about it.

On the poster, it has the awards it has won already on it, this shows that audiences already like it,so may make other people go see it. It also has on the names of the main starring roles in it, these names are already popular movie stars adding to the selling point as fans of these stars will go see it. Also on the poster it has the month it is coming out on, so audiences know when they can go see it.

My Poster Design

This is my design for a movie poster for our film 'Shadow'. I have used Paint and a programme called Picnic to create it.

Background:

I have used a plain white background for the poster as the main image on it is black and also this enables me to used dark colours for the text. Although most posters for a thriller would be black or dark colours, I feel that a white background in this case adds to the thriller as I edited it to make the whiteness help the main image to create shadows.

Main Image:

For my main image I have used the main prop in the film, a necklace, as it important throughout the film and as it is on the poster the audience will know that it will play an important part in the film, it also may help any viewer that didn’t understand the use of the prop in the film.
The image of the necklace is in all black, to add the feeling of suspense to it, and also make it seem scarier, also because of this I was able to add a slight shadow to it, which refers to the title of the film. Text:

For the tag line in my poster I used red, this was to make it stand out from the rest, however for my title I used black and white, which makes it look like a shadow, and as it is two toned it not only makes it unique but it makes it stand out on both the background and on the bit of image it covers.

Features:

On my poster I included

Film Four logo – the distributor
15 Certification – the age limit

Director, actors, and Production Company – film information

Tag Line.

Audience Feedback

For my audience feedback, i thought the best way to get further feedback was to send a few of my friends the link to our film and then the feedback questions.

This is what i sent to the people willing to do it

These are my results:

Female, 18.

Female, 17.

Female, 20.

Female, 29.

Male, 18.

After look at the results, i found that there was a mix of different opinions, depending on the ages of the viewer, the younger viewers seem to feel that the mirror scene needs work on, whereas the older viewers feel that it should have said how long ago the bullying happened. Overall though the comments were good and the favourite scenes seem to be the canteen scene and the lake one.

Audience Feedback - On Camera

Audience Feedback questions for rough edit

1) Do you think that the narrative of the film is believable?

2) Do you feel you can relate to the characters?

3) What genre do you think the film is?

4) Do you feel that the music was appropriate for the film?

5) Do you think that the invisibility effect looked realistic?

6) Do you feel that the issue of bullying is portrayed well?

7) Which particular scenes do you find most engaging?

8) Do you feel there are any scenes which could be improved?

9) Would you recommend this film to a friend?

Music Track 2

This track will be used during the first scene after the titles, in order to help establish the main character.

Music Track 1

Shadow - Rough Edit

Here is our first rough edit of our 5 minute short film, this is to be finalised, with excellent continuity.

Photo Storyboard

Shadow - Re Plan

After starting our filming, we have decided to re-write our script and change how the storyline of our short film is shown. We have replaced a few weaker scenes in our film and decided to use a few more complicated and creative shots. We have decided to cut the following characters; - College Tutor - Ruby Fox's mother and father We found that the characters were not longer suitable for the narrative film, and therefore the costume design for the following characters are also no longer of importance.

Shot List

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Film Questionnaire

This is a video questionnaire we conducted in order to gain vital information about our film's audience.

Storyboard (First Draft in rough)

Final Draft - Header

This is our final version of the header. On this one we added "Red Lizard Production presents", made the logo smaller and changed the font of the word shadow bigger and also changed the design of it.

To make this header I used photoshop, adding each part of the banner to a new layer to make it look more professional, I also used google images to get the pictures of the girl/shadow and the original picture of the lizard, I added the writing to the logo using photoshop. The writing was done completely on photoshop.

First Draft - Header

This was the first draft of our header. We changed this as the logo on this version was too big and we felt it didnt look professional. On this version I used the Paint application and added pictures that I found on google and I had made myself.