Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 7

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

For the preliminary exercise(seen to the left) I worked in a group. We had to film a thirty second long short film. The purpose of the film was to test our ability to shoot a short film and edit together footage from multiple camera angles and takes, whilst maintaining the continuity of the piece. During this I learned to make animatics and to look at each individual frame to maximise cut precision so that there are no jump cuts. Doing all of this helped with the actual production by giving experience in planning out the production and putting it all together.

For my production exercise(seen to the left) I worked in a group
with Amber Law and Daniel Faint. We had to film a two minute long opening for a film. While in the preliminary task the purpose was solely to cut in a way which preserves the continuity of events on screen, in the coursework task we had to present the introduction to a story in a professional way. Unlike in the preliminary task we did not use any equipment from school we used Amber's own camera and had a costume made specifically for the production.

There is quite a big difference between the overall quality of each production, we spent alot more time and effort on the coursework task and I feel that it shows quite clearly. The difference in quality can be attributed to a few reasons, such as using a higher standard of camera. Another thing about our coursework task is that it has alot more visual effects edited in to it such as the gamma and speed alterations. In the coursework task the soundtrack is also much more developed, layering music underneath the dialogue whilst the soundtrack of the preliminary task consists of only dialogue and background noise.

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learned about technologies in the process of constructing your film?

As with all film openings in making our film opening technology has been extensively used.

In the pre-production stage of making our film opening we used technology for research, we used Google chrome to look up other films of a similar genre and production type to give us ideas of where to go with ours and how to get there. We also used chrome to find our music, initially Sam the Sham then Amanda Seyfried and then finally Beethoven(pictured to the right).

In the production stage we used a camera to film our shots and then used a camera from school as a microphone in the cupboard to record the dialogue. We did this because the quality of the microphone was pretty good and the cupboard was well insulated against background noise.

In the post-production stage Adobe Premiere was used to edit the shots into the correct sequence, correct length and to apply effects to make them look as desired. Examples of visual effects being used are the gamma enhancements  used on most shots to make the colours more deep, the black and white filter put over the first few shots and how some of the shots were slowed down or sped up for effect. Another visual thing done in post production was that two shots of Red walking in opposite directions across a bridge are superimposed over each other to make it look as though there are two reds, and when they pass through each other it creates a spooky atmosphere. In audio post production I placed reverb effects on the dialogue, made the music get quieter during the dialogue and I created a left-right separation between the two voices that make up the dialogue. A thing I have learnt about Premiere is how to re-open a sequence in the project after it has been closed.

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

For a description of our target audience see question 4.

Our product attracts and addresses the target audience in a few ways.

Visually our video has in places had the gamma levels edited to make the colours deeper and has had the speed of some parts changed for dramatic effect. This addresses the audience as it sets the mood of the clip as a psychological thriller/horror and reflects the warped perspective of the titular character Red which gratifies the audiences desire to see a film that is distant from reality. Another way that the visual element of our product has done this is by using a few non-additive dissolve transitions to create a similar effect to the gamma alterations.

 

Above is an example of a shot where the gamma has been turned up to enhance the colours in the shot. Below to the left is an example of a non-additive dissolve being used to make Red's downhill run seem off and take less time. Below to the right is an example of shots which have been deliberately edited to be jumpy. Both are examples of bits which have had time manipulated, the left having been slowed down and the right having been sped up.

 

Our video's soundtrack is also used to attract and address the audience. Our music is Ludwig Van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14, specifically the first two minutes in the first movement. We have dialogue between Red(at the moment being played by Amber) and her alter ego(being played by Dan) in which they have a conflict. This establishes the mindset of Red and the differences that she has with her alter ego. This gratifies the aspect of the audience that want to see conflict in a  psychological thriller/horror type film.

This all adds up to attract our target audience as when added together it creates an unusual atmosphere and intrigues the audience into wanting to know more about the story. It is also very clearly not a mass market film and therefore attracts the niche market to view it.

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your product?

Age - Teenagers and young adults 16-26
Gender - Males and females, however it probably leans more towards females
Other interests - Fairy tales, psychological thriller/horror
Lifestyle - Casual, likes cinema
Class - Anyone with enough money to see a film
Ethnic & religious backgrounds - Unimportant

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3

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

Our film is a niche independent film with some involvement from Fox Searchlight pictures. Because our film is such I would imagine that it would be shown at film festivals such as the Sundance film festival or Cannes for a while before getting a public release.

I imagine that our product could also be shown by some of the standard cinemas in the UK such as Cineworld, as well as being shown in smaller cinemas too. I think it could also get to some European cinemas, however I doubt that it would be shown much if at all in cinemas in the Americas or Asia.

The product could also be distributed internationally on DVD and Blu Ray, and if I were to have my way by digital download. DVD/Blu Ray/Digital Downloads could negate the issue of poor cinema going in some nations and help make some money.

Examples of institutions I could imagine distributing our product would be:

• The British Film Institute

I can imagine the BFI distributing our product as they have backed and distributed hundreds of independant films and also have been known to release DVDs.

• Vertigo Films

Vertigo Films are a company that has created and distributed independant films, one example of which would be Richard Ayoade's Submarine

• The BBC

I can see the BBC distributing our product too as they are a British company that has also distributed and funded many smaller films and also distribute DVDs.

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

As our media product revolves around one character, the titular Red, the number of social groups represented is less than plentiful, there are also not alot of representations of each. However Red herself falls into a couple of social groups.

Most obviously Red is a female. Females are often used as window dressing, they are usually very feminine and attractive and not very hands on. Females are also very commonly the innocent victim or damsel in distress. However Red is not the stereotypical film female, as young and innocent as Red may look outwardly her dark side completely goes against the stereotypical female, being insane and of malicious intent. Red is however also a victim though as the abuse she received as a child is what led to the development of her twisted alter ego. So on the whole females are shown to neither be dainty darlings nor stone cold femme fatales, balanced but by extremes if you will.

Another social group represented in our media product are the mentally challenged. There are two typical representations of the mentally challenged, there are the sweet but dim characters such as Forest Gump and the disturbed and creepy. I would say that Red clearly comes under the latter, as she has a murderous alter ego spawned by domestic abuse from her grandmother. 

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1

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

Challenge:

• Our main character 'Red' is a young girl, in most people's minds a young girl is typically quite innocent and unspoiled, often quite emotional. In someways the character Red challenges this as even though you could argue that she is quite emotional she is not innocent, she is balls crazy as a result of a traumatic past. I myself can only really think of one other young girl that is quite so crazy and that is 14 year old vigilante Hayley Stark(pictured to the right) from the 2005 film 'Hard Candy' who is also balls crazy.
• Another convention or form that our product could be seen to challenge is the obvious difference between antagonists and protagonists, generally these two can be differentiated by several physical appearance based stereotypes such as Flash Gordon(protagonist) having blond hair and a shaven face whilst Ming the Merciless(antagonist) is bald with an oriental beard reminiscent of Fu Manchu. Whereas in our product there's really no way to differentiate between antagonist and protagonist in this way as they are both the same person, physically at least. 

Use:

• Our product uses several of the forms and conventions of other media products. The camerawork follows the rule of thirds as to keep the framing of each shot looking professional and well done.
• Another way that our product follows conventions is by having titles during the opening. Most films ever made have had titles at the start of the film, though there are no doubt some exceptions I cannot name any of them.
• The way that our titles are done also follows conventions, our product starts with the logos of all the companies that were involved in the production, in our case these are the Heritage Lottery Fund, Fox Searchlight and Terrasomnia. These are then followed by the jobs and people who carried them out during production, such as Dan being credited as editor, over shots in the opening with the director being the last name credited.
• The font of the titles is also an example of us using the conventions and forms, the font(pictured above) is the same as that of Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later' which is a San-serif typeface which is easy to read, as most titles are done, but with some decorative fading and in our product is coloured a deep red to match the title.
• Our product uses the traditional use of flashbacks, to provide back story and context to events. Our flashbacks show Red's past and establish the back story to her unstable state of mind.

Develops:

• At an earlier stage when we had music the music used was a development on the forms and conventions. The first song used was 'Little Red Riding Hood' by Sam the Sham, which is quite a corny sounding country song about Little Red Riding Hood, this was used to create an eerie feel to things. When it was decided that Sam the Sham's version was too corny we changed to Amanda Seyfried's version, which still created the eerie atmosphere but in a different way. I put this under develops as it still achieves the eerie thriller/horror vibe however it does not do it in the traditional way of having slow deep music which suddenly becomes high pitched staccato as is the standard in this genre.