BLOG EVALUATION

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

What I expect to see in a opening of an film is a good location, with not a lot going on but it still interests the viewers from the beginning.

For example, in the opening of the film " Drag me to hell" the main charcter Alison Lohman is shown in the office where she works. Not a lot is going on but it still makes you eager to find out.

The way our media film uses conventions of real media products is through the use of editing, sound, mise en scene, camera and credits. It is an action thriller.
The sound we used was diegetic and non diegetic is quite upbeat and urban. It wasn’t typical eerie music that gives the story away straight away. The music increases towards the end of the film where we see one of the characters go meet the person he was on the phone to. The use of sound suited the urban setting and mood of the film. Dialogue was also used when the second character was talking to the other character on the phone. The conversation was dubbed in. Dialogue was also used when the characters meet.
The editing of the film is fast paced and energetic. This suits the film as it is very young and modern. As it is fast paced, it keeps the viewers interested and it does not bore them, it makes viewers eager to know what is about to happen. We used continuity editing because everything that was happening in the film happened in one go and there was no flashbacks. Where necessary shots were used, the shots are shown for a few seconds. For example, the exchange of the USB between the two characters, the tilted shot when the first character comes out the station and he is introduced. A lot of match cuts were used throughout the film. For example, when the second character is walking towards the stairs and then he is at the stairs.
We also used mise en scene. The costumes the characters were wearing were very smart. The first character is wearing a shirt and smart jumper on top with trousers and the second character is wearing all black blazer, shirt, tie and trousers. The colour black highlights the character’s personality. He is the one giving instructions to the first character, getting him to do his dirty work. This very much represents the power he has and the evil side to him and the darkness in him. The location we filmed in is Barbican. Barbican is located in the city and is a very quiet area as it is a discrete place it went perfectly with the story and the meeting between the two characters in an estate and the envelope being delivered. It also went with the costume as it seemed very business like. We used natural light but it did go dark in certain places because of the buildings and in the tunnel. Props used were the USB and the envelope.
Camerawork is used in the film as this is the most essential for a film. We used long shots, close ups, point of view shot, medium shot and tilting shot we also used tracking.

2) How does my media product represent particular social groups?

Our media work represents many social groups. The three in particular are age, gender and ethnicity.
The age group represented are teenagers. This is essential because our product is aimed at a younger audience.
Gender groups are also represented. In our media product the gender represented are males. No female characters are in the film, females are less important as you will not find females meeting up and delivering parcels and taking part in illegal activities. This shows the patriarchal situation that still exists in society; it is still believed that women and men have different roles in society.
Ethnicity is also represented. The main characters are Bengali and Kurdish, this works well because our film is a British film and we are representing a multi- cultural Britain. Especially London as you will find people from all different backgrounds living in London.

The film Collateral inspired us while making our movie as it is an action thriller. As you can see in the picture Tom Cruise is dresserd Smart in a Grey suit. In our film the 2nd character is also dressed in a smart black suit. The opening of Collateral and their costumes very much inspired us.

3&4) The kind of Media Company that might distribute our product is YouTube. The reason for this is because our film is a low budget film we have to upload it on YouTube ourselves for it to be recognized and become popular. It will be shown in the cinemas to the rest of the AS students and maybe our family and friends may get to see it. It may also be uploaded on Vimeo.

Here are a list of films that have been made by other students and been uploaded on YouTube and has had a lot of hits.
“Asleep” trailer (short film 2009)
“Room number 4449”
“Student Horror/thriller film”
“Unwanted Presence”

We will promote the film through leaflets around college and outside to the public.

The audience for our film will be for teenagers aged 16 to adults aged 24. As we are teenagers ourselves we can relate to other teenagers and the troubles they face in society today due to peer pressure. It will be mainly targeted at males as it is more of a manly film. For example, it will be a 18 year old male, living in London, just finished A Levels and is going to Uni.

6) During the making of our media product we came across many different technologies that we learnt to use.

We learnt to use software called Final Cut Pro. This was very useful when it came to editing our final product. We were taught exactly how to edit, cut the film to make it shorter and move scenes on a timeline to where you want.

SoundType was another software we learnt to use. We learnt how to add sounds and adjust volumes to your own preferences. We also learnt how to play around with rhythms. This was very useful when it came to making our sounds and adding it to our film.

Livetype was used to add credits to our film. This was really good as we got to choose from different types of fonts, to find which one suited our film. We played around with the sizes and colour of the font to make it perfect.

When it came to filming we were taught how to use the camera. We were

shown the different precautions we had to take when it came to health and safety. There were various different buttons on the camera, we were shown to use the necessary buttons.

Blogger was another different technology we were introduced to. This was used to record our blogs on what we did and learnt during lessons. So it plays a very important role. We were shown how to edit the blogs, add images and links to the blog.

Hardrives were used to store our recorded work such as our thrillers. We were taught how to connect the hardrive to the computer and how to eject it afely. Not ejecting the hardrive safely may cause you to lose your work.

If you would like to see how to use these programmes please look at the videos on the blog "QUESTION 6: CAMERA VIDEO".

7) Looking back at my preliminary task I feel I have become much better in using the camera and differnt camera shots to get the best possible results. During the match cut exercise, the video shows clear evidence that the sound was really bad, it sounds static. Whilst doing a tracking shot, the charcter's body has been cut off and the camera looks as if it is bent. It shows that we did not pay attention to the minor details that can make the film look unprofessional.

In complete contrast, when it came to make to making our actual final film, the camerawork was much better and we had used various differnt shots. Minor details were paid attention to.

To see the video of our avtual film and the match cut exercise please go to the blog "QUESTION 7: PRELIMINARY &FINAL FILMS".

8) AUDIENCE FEEDBACK:

This is feedabck from another group who watched our film.


1) Choose 1 aspect of film language that has been used especially well in this movie and say why?

The variety of camera shots used e.g close ups and the long shots were also effective as it lets the audience see the surroundingsof where they are. The close ups show their facial expression letting us know how the character is feeling.

2) Choose 1 aspect if the film that could have been improved in ths movie and expalin how.

The dialogue spoken between the 2 males shold have been louder.

3) Can you recognise any stereotypes throughout this movie?

The males in the film had a bigger role to play as they were the only ones seen throughout the film.

4) Can you think of any intertextual references with any other movie when you watch this film?

In Collateral during the bag swap.

5) Who do you think would be the audience for this movie?

The audience will be between the ages 17- 23.