Evaluation

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and convention of real media products?
Our media product uses the convention of real media product throughout sound, editing, mise en scene and camerawork. The sound that we used in our product was loud upbeat suspenseful music which got faster towards the middle when the guy who is walking with the envelop passes it to the other guy the music gives that feeling of something is going to happen next. We used a mixture of diegetic and non diegetic the dialogue used when one of the character was on the phone giving directions it was dabbed in his lines was short just a couple of words where as the other spoke more this shows that one of the character has more control. In Collateral there is a clip were Vinci is swapping the bag with someone else but with our film it’s the envelop that gets passed onto another person. In This Shot In Collateral there is Vinci and the other character talking to each other in our own film we have both of the characters talking to each other as well.
The setting of the movie and the music are both urban. The editing was fast paced and energetic, it was continuity with the lengths of the shots up to 10seconds or longer. The types of editing that we used was a jump cut when the guy is walking and then suddenly his next to the camera walking away from it again, match cut was used when one of the character was walking towards the other character he cut down to on top of the stairs. We used mise en scene in the frame shot it shows the location, which is Barbican station and around that area, the lighting that was natural at first and then at times it was bright and dark when both characters are standing next to each other talking it was dark as the light was covered by the buildings. This is typical for a thriller due to the location that shows this.



The two characters were dressed in smart clothes one was smarter than the other who was in smart/casual. The props that was used was a USB and a envelop these were used at the scene were one of the character was walking down the road when an unknown stranger slapped an envelop to his chest to find that a USB was in side. In the film the Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, it starts of with titles with some background of the movie itself. For example the dragons and the mountain aeroplane is shown to also just by looking at this sequence its not giving away the exact plot of the film and not giving to less information to the audience its at the point where they would put you in suspense and want to carry on watching it. This is similar to our movie as it starts with the titles and just starts the movie of with what is happening making it suspenseful the audience would want to watch more. http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/08/01/the-mummy-tomb-of-the-dragon-emperor/

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our media product there different social groups, we have used two male characters along side with another male and only one scene where there is a female, this is representing that men are in control, they have the power. Theses characters are also young this would be appealing to the younger audience, which our movie is for. Both the actors are dressed in smart clothes; one is dressed smarter than the other who is in smart/casual clothes. This is representing that the smart clothes one is in charge of everything and his is undercover as his clothes are black it also represents that he is hidden doesn’t want to be known or isn’t really seen by anyone his the odd one out. The film that has inspired us is Collateral where they also the characters are dressed in smart clothes. The ethnicity of our actors are Bengali and Kurdish as this is a multi cultural movie and as it is set in Britain the audience also are going to be multicultural.

¾) what kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why? How will you attract /address your audience?
The media institutions that might distribute my media product are YouTube. As our film is, a low budget one putting it on YouTube is no cost. Once it has been posted on there then it would bring more people to watch it. Once it is in a YouTube account the way we would promote it is by having it linked from other thriller movies that have been posted up so that once someone has finished watching a movie on YouTube it will then have a link to our movie. We could also use Vimeo by file sharing we could then hire a local cinema or other local avenues targeting on urban audience. To get our audience we would make flyers, put it up on social networks where we know many of our targeted audience will be.
Examples: of the media which would promote our movie are magazines which are unisex or different types of gender magazines, so that both sexes can see it, newspaper for the older generation if they like it, and posters up in cinemas, websites that are film related and advertise our film on radio stations the channels that our audience would listen to. If our target audience is, nieche and British company then white audience would watch this as its British and they may love to watch British films however if it was to be mainstream then white audience may reject not to watch this as it has multicultural actors. This would be paid by getting people to sponsor us.

5) Who would be the audience for your media product?
Lifestyle summary: Drew, 18, an independent student studying in University, enjoys solving problems e.g. maths, real life problems, loves fighting games, going out with friends, shops in River island , Top Man, has an interest in different types of thriller movies.


6) What I have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product is:

Final cut Pro: what we learnt about final cut pro is that this is a software designed to help with editing on films so in our film we used final cut pro to get all the editing right and make it look neat rather then having wrong bits in our film. We made sure we knew how to use this software as this will help with our final product of the film and which it did. To look at how it is used please look at blog called question 6 for more details.

Sound track: this is software designed to add sound and adjust the volume. This software was very helpful as the music we used made it more suspenseful. On how to use this please look at blog called question 6.


Live type: this software is designed for the credits, which is used at either the end or the beginning of the film. This also allows you to change the font, size and colour on how you want your credits to be. There is also effect that could be added if you want. On how to use this please look at blog called question 6.


Camera: A camera is used to film what you want saving it onto a memory card, which then can be transferred to any other devices such as computer. On how to use this please look at blog called question 6.



Blogger: this is used to upload blogs which can be edited and could add pictures if you want. On how to use this please look at blog called question 6.



Mac’s: A Mac is used just like a computer but a better version and more advanced having faster facilities. On how to use this please look at blog called question 6.




Hardrives: we learnt how to use it, how to eject it and how to save recording on to the hardrive. On how to use this please look at blog called question 6.





7) Looking back at our preliminary task I feel that I have learnt in the progression from it to the full product.
The match cut in our real final product is more sharp and accurate than the ones in the preliminary task. Please watch these films on the previous blog called Question 7 to see the difference in the match cuts from how we recorded it in the preliminary task to the final product.

8) Audience Feedback and comment:
These are the comments we got back from audience:

1) Choose one aspect of film language that has been used especially well in this movie an say why The variety of camera shots used e.g. close ups and the longs shots were effective as it lets the audience see the surroundings of where they are also the close ups show their facial expression letting us know how the character is feeling.

2) Choose one aspect of film language that could be improved in this movie and explain how
The dialogue spoken between the males should have been louder

3) Can you recognise any stereotypes in this movie?
The males in the film had a bigger role to play as they were seen more throughout the film also the only the males had dialogue

4) Can you think of any intertextual references with any other movies when you watch this movie? Explain.
In the film collateral with the scene with the bag swop

5) Who do you think would be the audience for this movie?
The audience for this film will be between the ages of 17-23 as it is quites action packed

6) Write down 5 words which would describe this film.
Action –packed, thrilling , interesting , suspenseful

These are some word from the feed back we got on generated in a website called ww.wordle.net.

Tainted Evidence - Final Film

This is our final film called Tainted Evidence.

Question 7: Preliminary & Final Films

This is our final film we have been working on for the past couple of months.

Below is our preliminary match cut film we did earlier this year.

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.

Question 6: Camera Video

In this film we show how to use the camera, sd card, battery and tripod. we also show how to dismantle everything separately.

Question 6: Software Videos

In this film we show how and what we learned from using Final Cut Pro.

In this film we showed how to use the software Soundtrack.

This film shows you how we use Livetype and what we learned from the software.

In this film we show what we did with the website Blogger.com.

This video shows you how to connect the hard drive to the mac.

Evaluation - Mehmet Tarhan

Evaluation

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

During the creation of our product, Tainted Evidence, there were many aspects of Tv and film we were interested in using. Mainly we drew inspiration from the Michael Mann directed Collateral. Mann, known for his action-pact, yet clever and dark films, centres most of his films around the genre of thriller. Collateral was what we aimed for, however we did not wish to copy it. We had original ideas, such as the delivery of a piece of evidence, and also our location, around the crowded streets of London, and tube stations.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In both Collateral and our project Tainted Evidence. The main characters Vincent (shown wearing grey) and Miller (wearing blue) are both dressed quiet smartly, with Miller being slightly more casual.

I believe that we have paid attention to detail, because Vincent is a full-time hitman, whereas Miller is only delivering an item, therefore he needn’t be dressed so smartly.

In the image of Miller, you can see he is on the phone, this is him taking orders on where to go and what to do, however Vincent is more of less his on boss. He does not take orders or instructions on what to do, he is only given a list of targets.

This is an interesting take, because we had to choice to give power to Millers character, but we choose to give the power to Jacks character. I believe this makes our project very different to Collateral. This gives our story more depth and we could of experimented with this other key figure, yet due to time constrictions we could not.

People may associate our product as a film that also focuses on crime, because of the use of the title ‘Evidence’. This is interesting to note out, as the cast in the project are very young. They are generally the age which some older generations point to as the cause of the problems in modern day societies, drugs, alcohol, gangs.

Jack (wearing black) is portrayed by an Asain, he exchanges very little words with the white skinned delivery boy Miller. This is generally a juxtaposition in society. Usually, a white person, typically a business man would be seen as the boss, yet in this little scene, Jack’s character challenges the norm and disrupts the equilibrium. He is seen to be the one with the answers, with the status, which Millers character does not have, which he hasn’t had for some time since the beginning, because he’s been taking orders from someone who he doesn’t know, through a phone. This is an important fact to note out. When they do meet face to face however, after the exchange of the evidence, Millers character is shown to raise his voice and react angrily, this brings down Jack’s status, but he has shown through their brief encounter that society believes doesn’t always represent the truth.

Typically, many people have might have gotten a sense of darkness and danger from Jacks character, wearing all black. They may have assiociated with Millers character more however. This could be because, as seen in the sequence, Miller is given orders and instructions, many people could relate to this as they may have also been given orders to carry out.

Q3&4: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How will you attract/address your audience?

I think that a institution which specialises in low-budget films, that is open to a large number of people to watch would be perfect, and I believe that YouTube is the most valuable resource we could use in this. Although not recognised as a producer or film, YouTube however has the power to distribute globally, which is where it success lies.

As our film is low-budget, resources are limited, and YouTube is one the most effective and free way to distribute our product.

Within minutes of searching YouTube for short student work, I came across a vast array of videos, all with views in the region of 2000-8000, with some even going past the 10000 mark.

One that caught my eye in particular is a film called, The Art of War. It is quiet similar to our genre, thriller. It is I believe a very powerful and unique piece of drama, where two assassins are unknowingly pitted against each other. This film has currently got 3,740 views. It has done well but there is always room for improvement, however this has been one the successful films I was able to find. Some which I looked at had less than 100 views.

There is clearly potential on posting on YouTube, and I believe no harm will be done from it, as it is an easy, effective way of advertisement, but to really sell the film to the audience, I believe more promotion must be made.

Still keeping with The Art of War, I noticed that, after searching and reading some comments, the filmmakers’ only prominent marketing tool was YouTube. I believe this is the wrong way to promote, what would of made the film more successful is if a Facebook or MySpace page was made. Myspace would generally be more successful, as there are already thousands of students posting work ranging from art, music, and short-films, it also has a more typical and correct audience, whom search the internet for talent. However, Facebook is primarily a social networking site, but this could be used to the advantage of filmmakers. Millions of people use Facebook, millions more than MySpace. If a campaign, where groups and fan pages are created, which show the film, the film would be much more successful, and possibly even reach a global audience.

However, as technology evolves, more chances to show yourself to the public emerges. Taking phones for example, many people take footage on their mobile phones and post it to places such as YouTube, but lately, more and more people are becoming news reporters, simply by being in the right place at the right time with the correct equipment (such as an iPhone), someone can post their footage, which probably nobody else recorded, and upload to news websites on Sky and BBC.

Many video and file sharing websites are also being created. Dailymotion, Vimeo and ZShare are some ways users can publish work online.

Question 5: Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think a realistic audience for our film would be teenagers, and young adults, aged 15-22 would be interested in our project.

When watching our film in the cinema, with the rest of the students, there was a big appericiation for what we achieved, which mainly told us that people to do like it, but more importantly, teenagers like it. Out of the whole population, the men and women who go to cinema’s the most are 24 or younger. There isn’t really a big difference between being around 18 and being 21, so it seems that this is a realistic target.

My first typical description of the ideal target audience would be.. Mark, Said and Kristina, all of whom enjoy going the cinema with friends, watching TV shows such as Skins and Spooks and films such as Collateral and Bourne Ultimatum. They shop where the fashion trend goes, could be Burton one day, Topshop the next.

They are around the age of 18, looking to further their education at university, but with a view to getting a part time job to fund going out clubbing and socialising.

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

In the production process of Tainted Evidence, there was no one program which we used, or could have used to put all the pieces of this puzzle together. We applied all our knowledge of programs which we already knew how to use, such as Adobe After Effects, and implementing them to good use with the new programs which we were learning to use.. Livetype, Soundtrack Pro and Final Cut.

We choose to do one thing at a time for our film, by starting and finishing one aspect, be it sound or editing, before moving onto the next.

We started with Final Cut, learning many techniques, but in my opinion this was the easiest program to master, we didn’t have many though shots and cuts, nor did we have to use slow motion, this made this process easier and less hassle free. We just needed to go through our shots, cutting and moving them into the right place, and trimming ones that were too long which would of slowed down the pace of the thriller.

Moving onto Soundtrack Pro, we already had a brief idea from one particular club scene in Collateral. We wanted a upbeat, technical, yet deep and edgy piece of music. This variation would help in create the atmosphere for the scenes. Having music with a sense of darkness and depth at the scenes where the two lead characters meet, and something to liven and get the audience into the flow at the start, when Miller walks away from the tube station.

We had changed our font near the deadline for submission. Originally we thought having a red coloured font, with calligraphic fonts was the best for our film. However, we changed minds when we saw that it didn’t really fit the thriller genre. We changed it using Livetype and made it a more bold font, which showed power.

Many other technologies where used, such as the equipment. The camera was very modern, and easy to handle, the memory cards were compact and were able to hold an entire days filming. Many aspects like this made things much easier and hassle free.

We also relied heavily on Blogger, we updated our blogs every week, talking about what we did during filming, any exercises we may have done or tutorials we took part in.

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

We continually learned many new things during the transition between the preliminary exercise we did compared to the final frame of Tainted Evidence.

As you can see from the pictures, the most prominent thing we changed was the setting. Having it set outside, meant we could feature some bigger backgrounds, of tall buildings, which were coloured grey and towered over us, this helped us create a sense of darkness, and gave the final version more depth.

Another big change was costume. Looking at the preliminiarly exercise, we weren’t really dressed to the part, we were wearing many sports trainers and jeans and colourful tops. We opted for the more professional look in our final version, wearing more smart clothes helped also in to get to character easily.

Question 8: Audience feedback and comment

Here is a selection of words, which were used to describe our project. These are the intial reactions of students and teachers, whom were asked their opinion.