Evaluation- Podcast- Target audience

Evaluation- Emily Tufano Evaluation write up

 Who would be the target audience for your media product?

As a group we came to the decision that our horror film would be best suited for young adults (15-24). We came to this conclusion because after carrying out demographic research the age group which watched Horror films the most was among 18-24 with the ages of 15-17 coming in a close second.

Also our film contains scenes of violence therefore we felt it was appropriate to make the film a certificate 15. In addition felt it would be suited for young adults because they would be able to relate to some of the characters in our film. Such as most young adults like drinking and sex, for that reason we have incorporated this into our film as Donald tries to get Shelly drunk and he tries it on with her.  Our film is aimed at both genders.  After conducting secondary research we found that there is only a small gap between women and men who are more likely to watch a horror film. Therefore we thought it was best to aim our film at both genders as both men and women would enjoy the film. To attract men we added violence, shown in the murder scene between Shelly and Sandra. We also made Donald into the typical teenage boy obsessed with drinking and girls. This should attract men as statistics show they like violence and they may be able to relate to Donald’s character. On the contrary to attract women we used role reversal, shown where Sandra has power over Donald. This would empower women and make them feel like they are not always perceived as the typical naive girl.

There is not a specific region for our film, however we feel young adults from East London would benefit more as this is where the film was set, although any British young adult would enjoy the film. Lastly race, after conducting research there seemed to be no significant race that watched Horror films more. Therefore our film can be watched by any race.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

In order to attract/ address our audience we used a variety of research methods. By carrying out research we were able to find out what types of horror films people liked and what age group best liked horror films. We carried out a questionnaire in the local shopping centre to gather information about what types of horror films people like to watch and what age group watched them the most. By doing this we found out that thriller was the most favourite genre followed by romance. And the age group was 18-24. The research was very helpful as it gave us an insight to what types of horror films people where watching and what age group to aim our film at. By gathering this knowledge we were able to apply what viewers liked to our film.

Once our film was completed we uploaded it to Facebook, where our friends could watch the film and give feedback about their likes and dislikes. This is a non biased way on gathering feedback as there was a variety of people watching our film and they all gave their individual opinion. We also used YouTube to attract our audience as it is free and easy to upload videos. Using the information gathered we came up with the plot of our film. By having the first scene set by school lockers we hoped it would engage the young adults as school is a familiar place to them. We also used typical stereotypes that would be able to attract our specific audience such as the vulnerable naive girl and the typical teenage boy.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 Throughout the process of making our film I have learnt numerous skills ranging from using the camera to adding non diegetic music to our film. Using the camera for the first time was quite tricky during the preliminary I picked up the skills for what each buttons function was. I also learnt how to use the tripod; this made my filming more stable. By the time we started filming I was confident in using different shots and angles using the tripod and the camera.

 Other technologies used by our group were YouTube; we frequently used YouTube to research thriller opening clips and sound tracks. We have also used programmes such as Premier, we used this to upload and edit our film, and we could also add music and graphics. I have never used premier before, however it was easy to pick up.  Celtx was another programme we used; this programme was used to create a script, story board and master catalogue. As I have never used this before it took time to use however I picked up the skills eventually. Microsoft and Facebook were technologies that I have already used so it was quick and convenient. Finally, Blogger was one of the main technologies we used during the construction it enabled us to upload our work and it was free for the public to look at our work. Blogger was easy to navigate so it was easy to use.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film focused mainly on gender and age representation. We focused on these two particularly because we thought our audience would be able to relate to these the majority of our viewers where young adults. In our media product we showed gender representation through each of our characters. Liam who plays Donald was portrayed as the typical male. He had power over both of the other female characters and he had a higher authority. We showed this by Donald taking power and making Shelly drink alcohol even though she had refused. Gender representation was also shown through Shelly’s character as she fits the stereotype of the typical teenage girl. Shelly was subservient to Donald and let him take control of the situation. She was also very naive as she believed Donald had her round to revise. In contrast Emily’s character Sandra did not fit the usual stereotype this is known as role reversal.  Sandra has power over both Shelly and Donald. On the other hand she does conform slightly to the stereotype as she kills Shelly out of revenge because she fancies Donald and is jealous. All of the characters in our film are portrayed as teenagers and therefore representation of these characters are extremely important to the film. Youths are seen by society as being people who are violent, like to get drunk and have sex. We portrayed this stereotype in our film by having the characters drink and by adding a violent attack.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As our film is an independent film it would not be shown in the big mainstream cinemas such as Vue and Oden as we would not have the finance. To start off I would put our film on YouTube as it is the cheapest and quickest way to get our film noticed.

The next step would be small independent cinemas which are usually found in areas such as Soho or film institutions such as Film 4, the UK film council and the BBC. The UK film association support upcoming directors’ by funding their film in order to attract a wider audience.  Film 4 shows and produce a large number of British films such as ‘This is England’. Finally, the BBC produces many feature films and is committed to finding new talents. However if the film was a great success with Film 4, I could consider going to big producers such as Vue or international producers, so the film could go international. This would be the best achievement for the film as it will gain a lot of popularity and money. For my film I would consider approaching all of these institutions, so that my budget would be covered. 

 

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel as if I have improved immensely with regards to my time management, filming and editing. From the preliminary task up to the final film I have looked back at my work and realised I have made a vast improvement on filming. During the preliminary I was new to using the camera and tripod therefore some of my shots where rather unstable. However, after some practice by the time it came to film the final product I was much more confident and was able to film well using the camera and tripod. Secondly, while filming the preliminary I learnt that you cannot film directly into sunlight as you will not be able to see the actor’s faces. As a result, when filming our actual piece I made sure there was never direct sunlight.

Something else we learnt from our preliminary task was to always take more than one shot of a scene. While filming our preliminary we had a lot of continuity issues, which were very time consuming as we had to re film. Therefore, when filming the final product we made sure we took a few takes for each shot. By doing this we were not set back as we had other footage to rely on.

My editing has come a long way since the preliminary task. Looking back I was unsure about what tools where available on Adobe Premier; however by the editing of our final product I could add effects much more easily. Lastly, I have been able to manage my time more as I realised that a lot of time needs to go into the blog, to assure that I can get the best possible grade.

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

In many thriller films camera shots and angles are used to capture tense moments, reveal facial expressions and create suspense. In our film we used many camera shots and angles which are commonly used in thriller films. Such as Point of view, high angles, low angle, close up, extreme close up. 
 In our film we used non diegetic and diegetic sound. This is commonly used in thrillers as it can make a scene more suspenseful as non diegetic sound can add instant suspense. With a thriller genre its aim is to make people jump. Therefore by incorporating non diegetic music into our film it will build anticipation for the viewer. Diegetic sound is used in thrillers to emphasise and add effect it could be a punch or a slamming of a door. We have diegetic sound in our film for the same reason; to create effect.
 Mise en scene consists of lighting, costumes, props and space. This is very important as the audience will be able to tell through costume and props what type of film it is. In our film we used low key lighting, which is where the subject is not fully lit; this will add suspense and mystery. This can be shown in our film where Sandra is at the top of the stairs. Low key lighting is used to create tension. We used alcohol bottles and knife for props as well as others. We used these to live up to the stereotype of teenagers and alcohol. We used the knife to show the viewers how the victim was killed.
I believe our film challenges the conventions of a real media product because usually it is the men who have power over women. However our film Sandra has power over Donald and Shelly as Sandra is the one who is the killer. However, this is also challenging the genre because usually when a woman has power in a film it is due to sexual objectification, whereas in our film the villain is not sexually objectified. On the other hand we did follow the typical genre pattern as Donald is portrayed as a typical teenage boy who has the power over Shelly. We also followed the genre pattern by showing Shelly as the vulnerable, naive and weak as she ended up dead in the end.

Evaluation- Podcast- Reflection of our film

Evaluation - Survey Monkey

Evaluation - Liam Kelleher Evaluation Writeup

Evaluation

Who would be the target audience for your media project?

The target audience for my media project is people between aged between 18-24 as in my research I found out that they are the people who watch horror movies the most so the film will predominately be based for people of this age range. 

This is the screen shot of the research showing that I have found out who my target audience are. therefore in the film we are going to have to include young actors so it relates back to our audience, the way in which the characters speak will be different as they relate different to the way in which older people speak. Finally the last thing is the characters are going to have to be seen as lower class citizens as many people stereotype children as being lower members of society.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my target audience by putting the finished opening scene onto my personal Facebook account, by doing this it will allow for all of my friends to watch the film and give feedback on what they though of the film. I also added along with the finished clip a survey for the viewers to take so that they could rate the film and give me ideas on where it could improve. 

We also wanted to find out what genre of films people liked so we took a survey from the local area to find this information out. In our findings it concluded that people from the ages of 18-24. We then used this research for our film and it proved to be very beneficial.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In the making of our film I had to use many different forms of technology, these included using the camera, tripod, editing software etc. 

Whilst using the camera I had to learn quickly how to operate it and what all of the aspects on the camera do. This operation had to be done quickly as time was against our side. Once i knew the basics of the camera it was very beneficial then and I quickly learnt how to manipulate different shots and angles to achieve a higher grade.

The tripod was a very key source of technology as it is what held the camera so that it was stable/balanced. If we did not use the tripod in the making of our film the quality would have been very bad as it would be moving all the time and would not be clear for the viewer.

The next source of technology was the editing software, this is where we had to make the film on the Mac. We had to take all of the clips and edit them so that the film was to a good standard. This was by far the hardest piece of technology as none of us had come into contact with this software before. As a result of this it took a while for us to gain a full understanding of our film. Once I gained understanding it was just a matter of time as I took as much time so the film was made to perfection.

Finally, the last forms were Facebook and YouTube. As I have used these before it was very easy to use so that saved us a large amount of time. By using these programmes it was convenient for the whole group. 

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

Our media product is very similar to ones that are used in industry. It is a very well known story line where a vulnerable young girl is sexually objectified as she is seen in many films to have no power. We also use music which is used in many common thriller films as it creates tension and leaves the viewer/audience in anxiety and they don't know what is going to happen next. However, in our film it was not a normal classic as it was not a standard man who kills a woman but in actual fact it was a stressed out woman killing the vulnerable young girl.

Also, in our film we have used many camera shots and angles that would also be used in industry. This is good as by using these actions it allows for the viewer to see the actors expressions and it gives them the feeling that they know the actors and they can feel their pain. By using these good shots/angles it will make the film a higher quality and it will gain the group a better mark.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 The particular social groups in the film is gender and age representation, we used these two social groups as they were the most relevant for the people who are film were based for. The use of gender is seen in that the male is far more dominant than the female. In most films this is a common example so we have followed a common example. Also with the age social group it shows that young people try to make people vulnerable by giving them mass amount of alcohol knowing they cannot handle the drink. It gives the perception that boys try to take advantage of girls who are alone as they have no-one to fall back to as they are alone. By using these social groups it made the film a success as the audience/viewers could relate to the film. 

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As our film is an independent film it will not be able to be shown in the main cinemas as we will not be able to finance the resources to make this possible. Therefore once it was completed we just put it onto YouTube as it is a very quick process and is free so you are showing it to people at no cost. It will also be the easiest way for people to notice it as it is a multinational program to use.

If the film was to then become a hit on YouTube the next part would be going into a partnership with the BBC or Film 4 so that they can fund our film so that it is then available for anybody to watch. This is the best way for all young and upcoming directors to get their films out to the market as all these major companies will have full financial backing for the film.

If then the film was to be a massive hit there that is when you turn to the major corporations so they can put it out to the widest range possible and then people all around the world will have the opportunity to watch the completed film.

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

Looking back I have come a long way as now I am able to be a leader in the group and was confident in delegating different tasks to team members, having a good understanding with my team members, having good time management so things are done on time and also all of the different equipment we used in the making of our film I am familiar with now.

As being the only male in the group I took it upon myself to make sure the group was always 100% focused and always kept to the guidelines that were set out. By ensuring this it made us all feel confident in deciding what tasks each of us would assign to. If there was a decision that no-one wanted to do I would delegate who the task should go to, that way it would ensure that no time was wasted. By us doing this it made our group a success and it made it easy to work with them.

Also, I have now got a good understanding with all of the members in my team. As we were all friends before the group was made we all had a rough idea of what each others strengths and weaknesses were. By us knowing this it made the work easier and the work was completed faster too. Also if there was any complaints there was tension as we was all friends so we would just all get on with it and put the work before our friendships. 

I also believe that my time management skills have improved vastly as I now know that once a deadline has been set you must stick to it or it mean that you will start to fall behind. Once you start to fall behind the workload becomes bigger and you would not be able to cope. As my time management was good I never fell behind so I sometimes found myself with time to relax as I was always up to date. 

Finally, I now know how to use a camera and tripod successfully. This was a hard thing as I had never used them before but I now know how to use them to a very high standard. I am also now able to use the editing software sufficiently and would be able to edit a short film with no problems. I believe I learnt the skills for this software much quicker than others which was a good thing as that way we had a larger amount of time to edit the film.  

Evaluation - Facebook : Reaching out to target audience

This is a print screen showing that I have posted the survey onto my facebook account. by doing this it will get people of the same age as me who are the target audience for our film to take the survey and give us feedback on our film. 



Construction- Adding Non Diegetic Music

Adding non diegetic music from eleaas1

Construction- Reflection

After school we went back to Liams house to refilm some of the film. It did not take as long as last time as we knew what needed to be filmed. We filmed the following scenes again:

• Drinking scene with Donald and Shelly  
• Sandra entering the house
• The killing scene

We had to film these again so we could get different types of shots and angles. Such as close ups of the drink and POV shots of Sandra entering the house.

The filming has all be finished now and all that is left is to edit.

Construction- Reflection

In today lesson we finished the slideshares on adding non diegetic music and on adding title graphics. These tasks were fairly easy once we recalled all the steps and put them in order.

 

Construction - Adding Title Graphic

Construction - Adding title Graphics

Constructions - Reflections

This is a print scrren of all the titles from our blog. As all of these blog posts were at the planning stage of our project they should have planning in the title for a description. Therefore I am now going to have to change all of the titles if I did this at the start it would not have taken me long however due to making sure I am giving correct information I now have to do this.

This is now the new blog with all the correct titles it now looks much more professional and user friendly. It will also make things much clearer and will be easy to find what task we are on.

Constructions - Reflection

Once I had successfully drawn the concept art poster I tried to scan this in using the school computer. Due to the small amount of scanners in the school it was not possicle for me to do this. As a result of this it meant for me to go home on my lunch break to get my iPhone wire so I could upload the picture of it that way. The proccess was made longer that way but it is a learning curve that we should not rely on the school technological systems to always be available, in future I will always be prepared now as I will not want to be wasting all of my time.

Construction - Bloopers

This is our group’s bloopers. Bloopers occurred often in our film making as the characters we were acting out seemed to be funny to us which made us keep laughing at each other therefore creating bloopers. There were a couple of common mistakes we had made, one which we have already discussed- laughing at each other. The second common mistake was not filming enough of different camera shots and angles, this meant that we had to go back and re film certain parts of our film with different shots to get our grade up to a higher standard.
We worked past our mistakes and bloopers by getting into our characters roles and making each other work seriously so that our work would get done. We also had to re film certain scenes again so that we would get the best shots without the camera shaking, the correct shots and lastly ones when we were not laughing.  

Construction - Reflection - Louise Farrugia

During editing i had realised that we need to re- film our first day of filiming as we have not got enough camera shots and angles, we need more close ups to show facial expressions of each induvidual. We also need more medium shots and long shots to make our film more to a professional standard.
Also after lining up all of our clips together in premiere i had realised that our film was not as suspensful, tense or scary as id like. This could be beacuse we were rushing, or not putting enough effort into the acting as we were focusing more on the filming and getting the right camera shots and angles.
Therefore the group has decided to re film our previous clips again this weekend on the 9th Febuary and we have all agreed that we need to focus more on getting different shots and angles and aiming to try to make our film more suspensful through our acting

Constructions - Reflection - Liam Kelleher

In the making of the film I went through a lot of problems. The problems I went through were not being able to handle all of my A Levels. Due to taking 4 A Levels it was hard at first to delegate all of my subjects so it found me falling behind in some of my media coursework. Due to now delegating my time better I have been able to start to become up to date with work and therefore not being behind anymore. I wont be falling behind anymore as if you are to fall behind you end up getting a bigger work load which will end up causing problems. Also, by falling behind it will not be beneficial for my fellow group, so it will not be fair on them.

Construction - Podcast - Working with camera

Construction - Reflections

After our filming on Tuesday 29th January we had uploaded our work from the camera to the computer. After this i was to start editing the new clips on the Tuesday 5th Febuary however we had come to discover that we had lost our clips and two hours worth of lesson. We were all sure that we had saved our work however we didnt. Although this has set us back we have all learnt to be more carefull with our work as working with technology can be unreliable. We plan to re film tomorrow Wednesday 6th Febuary and edit the clips also. Beacuse of this set back the group have all agreed we will do posts for homework

Construction - Reflections

Now that I have completed all my course work I want to improve my grade to the best possible. Due to this fact I am choosing on my own accord to come in over half term to improve my work so that it increases my grade and I earn more points. By doing this it will not only benefit myself it will also benefit the group. As media is what I would like to do when I am older this is why I want the best grade possible.

Constructions - Reflections

Tuesday 29th January, was our second day of filming. We filmed the beginning section of our thriller. This was set by the lockers in the school common room. We chose this destination as school lockers are associated with school and is a common meeting point for students.

It took us around 45 minuets to film this section. It started with Shelly opening her locker and donald going over and asking if Shelly wanted to revise with him that following evening at his house. At first Shelly was hesitant but after reassurance she agreed. This was filmed within a few takes. We decided to take a close up of Donald speaking and of Shelly as well as a medium shot of the conversation.

We then filmed Sandra standing across the common room looking intently at Shelly and Donald. We could not film this whole section because we needed people to be in the common room. Therefore later during this week we plan to film during lunch or break.

Construction - Reflection - Editing

Tuesday 5th February 2013 I (Louise Farrugia) began editing, i changed all of our video clips to MPEGS for them to be useable on Adobe Premiere. I then dragged all of the clips on to Adobe Premiere and placed them in order so that we start to get the shell of our film without any graphics, titles, or edited clips. By doing this i have realised that we need to go back and re- film our work as it is not satisfactory/ to a high standard.

This is where i dragged our clips into Adobe Premiere. 

This is our films line up without editing.

This is a screen shot of a scene from our film.