Evaluation: Character Representation

Evaluation - Forms and Conventions of Media Text

Construction- Strengths and Weaknesses

Evaluation- Target audience feedback

Evaluation- How did you attract your target audience

Evaluation- What kind of media institution would distribute your film?

Evaluation- Who would be the target audience for your film?

As a group we decided that our exact target audience for our film would be British Urban White Teenage Males/Females. We chose this particular target audience after conducting our demographic research.

During research we found that statistics have shown that the most popular age group to watch horror movies was between 18-24. Therefore we have aimed our film at this particular age group, as we know the film will attract mainly that group.

For deciding what gender to attract we conducted secondary research that showed women where the most likely gender to watch horror movies. However, this was only slightly more than men. Therefore we felt it was necessary to target both women and men in our film.

For the region, the film would be suitable for people who live in the same area the film was set in, so East London. However, the film could also be watched by people in the UK as a whole.

Our film does not address race as after conducting research there is not one prominent race that watches horror films.

Evaluation - Technology used for coursework

Evaluation- What I have learnt Liam Kelleher

Evaluation- What I have learnt Emily Tufano

Evaluation- Target audience research summary

Overall through our Survey monkey questionnaire and interviews we have found what the audience liked and did not like, what we could have done better and changes that could have been made.

By looking at our research through Survey monkey and interviews we have found that more than half of people said that our opening scene was good/very good. With only one person saying our film was bad. By looking at the results most people stated the correct genre for our film, this indicates that we portrayed the aspects of a horror thriller correctly. The audience also liked the music we used in the opening scene with 50% agreeing that our music was acceptable for our film. We also asked the question 'Did you think the setting of our film was in the right area?' 40% of people agreed.

Through survey monkey we asked the question 'Do you think we could have made any improvements?' The majority of people said no however some of the audience said that our lighting could have been improved and that in some parts the music was too loud over the actors. Over all most people enjoyed our opening scene. Therefore in order to make our film better we could have had better lighting and made sure the actors voices could be heard clearer.

What the target audience research did for our group was it gave us an insight to what the viwers thought of our film and if we had made a good film. While looking back on our work and reflecting on the research we could see what the audience thought we could have improved therefore giving us advice for future projects.

If we were able to do the film over again we would make some changes with the continuity of our film and we may add more effects such as a split screen. We would also make sure the actors where speaking clearly. These are the changes that we discovered from the target audience research.

Evaluation - Survey Monkey Results

This screen shot is showing us how much the audience enjoyed the film. It shows that they mostly enjoyed it however 1 person did not enjoy it. This could be seen that he is not a fan for films of this age range.

 This screen shot is showing the opinions the viewers have given us and suggested ways in which we could improve the film so that they enjoy it much more.

This is a screen shot of where the viewer thought the film was in genre content. It shows that they clearly thought it was under horror so it shows that the genre of our film was easy after a short period.

This is a screen shot of if they thought the music was good and all of the results were good so it proves we chose the right music for our film.

This screen shot is for the audience to tell us if they would watch the whole film if it became available. It was of mixed emotions so it was not very clear.

This is a screen shot of the audience giving us their view on what they thought was the most memorable part. By us asking them this we will know what parts they enjoyed and then include similar parts to the film so they enjoy it more.

This is a screen shot of how good the setting for the film was. It shows it was average as it was in the middle therefore it indicates that we may need to change the setting so the audience enjoy it more.

 This is a screen shot showing what the audience would have preferred watching. We have to take this into account as at the end of the day the audience is the most important thing.

 This is a screen shot showing what the audience rated the film out of 10. Ot shows that the average rating was low so we really need to improve the film dramatically.







This is the final question and it shows if they would recommend the film. It shows more people would recommend it but we need to improve it more so that they all recommend it to their friends.

Evaluation - Reaching out to target audience- Film

Here i have put our film on facebook, i have done this so that our friends and family can watch the film and complete the survey. This helps us to get a vartiey of different feedback from our video through the use of a social networking site. This also helps our video to get more views and there it will become more popular.

Evaluation- Louise Farrugia - Write Up

Evaluation

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

Our thriller movie share many common conventions such as a dark environment where the main murder would take place, and a main victim (possible victims). Some of the common themes of horror are death, victims, torture as well as the conventions of the production such as ominous music, and editing or creating a story which itself creates and enigma for the audience, leaving the audience guessing. Many films use the idea of the innocent girl who is sexually objectified and the man who initially has more power, and because of this he therefore had the power to kill. We fit to these conventions of our thriller film by having the classic characters of a ‘victim girl’ and ‘the murdered’ however we challenged conventions as the villain was a girl however had more power than the ‘victim girl’. Another way of representing the genre we used chilling/tense music. In our feedback it showed that they thought the music made the film to be more scary due to the music- sticking to conventions helps the genre.

How does our media product represent particular social groups?

Our product represents particular social groups such as ‘young teenagers’. Teenagers are stereotyped to be alcoholics, drug abusers, criminals, youths, aggressive and much more. We have incorporated this into our video as are target audience research suggested to us that the age group from 15-25 liked the idea of thriller film. The characters were aged at 16 therefore they were prime for being the ‘young teenage’ stereotype. The character Donald was a boy only wanting to drink and get all the girls at school. We also used the ‘innocent girl’ stereotype as girls are perceived to have less power than boys which means our character Shelly was fit for the part of the victim.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Before the making of our thriller film we carried out researched that concluded that the age group between 18-24 watched more horror/thriller films than any other age group.  This helped us to come to the conclusion of what age group would watch our film which was 15-25 year olds. Also due to the violence that our film contains made it appropriate for the film to be certificate 15. Moreover our film would relate to young teenagers as they could relate to the characters in our film. Because of the ‘teenage stereotype’ we thought it would be appropriate to incorporate this stereotype into the film such as the scene where Donald and Shelly are drinking alcohol all in aid of Shelly losing her sense of control and Donald getting what all ‘Teenage boys want, sex’ (stereotype). After our research at the shopping centre we came to the conclusion that both men and women would both watch horror films therefore we made our film for both genders. We did this by having both gendered characters. To attract men we had a violent scene between two women this attracted them because of the violence but also attracted them because they were sexually objectified. To attract women we made Sandra powerful by making her the villain, hopefully this would attract women as it would make them feel as though they are not perceived as a typical naive girl.

The region for our film is not specific as it is not based in a well known place, however i believe young British adults would relate more to this film as because  of where it was set. After our research we found that no specific race watched horror films more and in fact all races would watch horror films.

How did we attract/ address our audience?

We attracted our audience through many research methods, by making a research table to find out exactly what horror films people liked to watch. We also made a questionnaire that we gave to the people in our local shopping centre so that we got an idea of what sort of people would watch our thriller film. From this research we came to the conclusion that the most thriller was the most favourite genre at the age group of 18-24. This research was very helpful/useful as it gave us an inkling of what sort of people were going to watch our thriller movie. We applied this researched to our film.

Once our film was complete we uploaded it to face book where our friends could view the film and give us some feedback about what they liked/disliked. By doing this we got thoughts about our film from a variety of different people, different age groups, gender and race.  We put our film on to YouTube to attract another audience this time one that is a worldwide range.

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

From the making of our whole film i have learnt a wide range of technologies skills both from the equipment used and the programmes we used. From using the camera i have learnt about the way the camera works this is from turning the camera on to the way that you have to zoom slowly to get a professional shot. The tripod for me was tricky although we had a lesson about how to use the tripod i still found it hard however once i got the hang of it it wasn’t so bad. The tripod allowed us to get different shots and angles such as medium shots to PAMS.
The other technology we used was programmes such as premier this programme is where i made the film, i was able to cut shots, add music, add title graphics, cross role and fade to black to make our film finalized and professional. We also used YouTube for not only research about thrillers and thriller music but also we could get music for our thriller film. Celtx was another programme that we used to make scripts, story boards, and master caseload. We used Microsoft, Facebook, and blogger which i have used before however for our course work was very convent.

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

Our film has been made by independent students therefore it would not be viable to be shown in ‘The Movies’ as we do not have the finances to promote our film and get it to be watched in cinemas such as Vue or Mercury. Therefore we have put our film on the website YouTube as it its free and the quickest way to get noticed as YouTube is used worldwide.

After this we would then contact small independent cinemas and their companies, these cinemas are usually found in areas in London such as Soho, or film institution such as Film 4, the UK film council and lastly the BBC. The UK film association support and fund upcoming directors if they believe that the company are worth the support/funding. This would attract a wider and broader audience.
The BBC features many films and are always looking for new talents. However if the film was a great hit it would then be considered to be premiered in the cinemas this includes international producers. This would be an astonishing achievement for a new film with amatory producers they would then therefore become very popular and receive lots of money as after the film is featured it would then be brought our on DVD were more money would be made.
For our film i would consider taking all these steps so that the finances are covered and my film would be viewed by many.

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 tasks i feel as though i have achieved a great deal, this varies from  team work, management, filming, editing and managing time. From when we first started filming to now i believe i have made much improvement on filming as during the preliminary new to using the camera and tripod this meant that the camera shots were shaky, the tripod was frustrating to use as it was complex. I Learnt thee different shots and what ones to use for what scenes for example a medium shot on one person when they are talking and a close up for the other persons reaction. Also i learnt that you cannot film facing direct sunlight as you will not be able to see the actors face.
Moreover i learnt we should always take more than one shot and shots in different angles, and sizes. The first time we filmed we were still very un- experienced taking lots of shot however different angles. Therefore we had to film again on a different occasion leaving us with community issues. So when i was editing the film i found this hard to deal with as we had not more time to film.

I have come a long way from not being able to use premiere to editing and creating the whole film. I know how to add effects, music, clips, transitions, titles which i did not know how to do when we first began.  I have learnt how to use my time more wisely as editing just one section takes a whole lesson.

Evaluation - Louise Farrugia - As media coursework

Evaluation - Interview target audience

I interviewed Barbra she is 16 years of age. By interviewing her this helped me to get an idea of what a girl thought about our film in deft. through this interview i got lots of information about what females liked about our film. Barbra liked the drinking scene however she liked this because of the simple fact it is funny and for no other reason.

Evaluation- Interviews of Target Audience

I interviewed Ciaran who is 16 years of age from my media class. I did this because one, i wanted to interview a male to get a males idea of what they liked and disliked about the film. From this interview i gained a lot of knowledge about what he thought in general about our film which was that he enjoyed it, he enjoyed mostly the scene when Liam was trying to get me drunk this could be because of the male power Liam had during this time however it is his opinion.

Evaluation- Interview target audience Research

We got a sample of 3 girls and one boy at the age group of 16-17 to watch our film we did this because our target audience research suggested that both genders around the age of 15-24 year old watched more thrillers/horror films. Our research came from both the internet and from our local shopping centre. The purpose of interviewing a variety of both genders was to get a better idea of what sex likes the film more and if we aimed our film at any sex more than the other.