Evaluation

Media as - Evaluation BEFORE I DIE

CHARLOTTE BERRY

I chose to focus on the film from the entire brief given as this is what I want to learn about and I thought I could produce and achieve a professional looking opening to a film. From the preliminary task brief I chose to focus my 30 second clip in an interview as I thought I could use the angles such as medium shot to show the relationship between the two characters and also over the shoulder shots to makes the audience feel involved with in the film. Additionally I used the editing techniques of match on action, and I believe this shows the realism with in the clips as well as linking the clips together to look more professional. Furthermore from the main task brief and with the research I carried out, I decided to create the opening of a film with the genre of ‘drama’ as I thought with certain contemporary media technologies and experimenting with different ideas I could create an emotional and passionate film focusing on a teenager suffering with a terminal illness. To make the opening more technical and professional I used the camera shots such as close ups to show the emotion of my characters, over the shoulder to make the audience feel and relate to how the character feels, establishment shots to add to the feeling of my film, and medium shots which also add to the effect of mise en scene to show her movement and the costumes of my character.

BEFORE I DIE

In what ways does you media product USE develop or challenge forms and conventions for

real media product? When researching in to the media of films, I used the forms and conventions that are used in real production films, that I thought were effective and important. I used non diegetic sounds such as music at the opening of my film because this is what is usually used to create a certain emotion as I found out when researching films such as ‘twilight’. I created a slow instrumental track on the program garage band, to put over the opening of my clip and I thought this worked well with the drama, of my film as it creates the emotional side in my target audience. Furthermore, I also tried to use the same types of camera angles use in the films that I researched as this would make my film look more professional and modern. I thought it was important to start off with an establishment shot, like my other four films as this shows the setting that the film is in and gives the audience an idea of what the films about, so I think this was an effective and good idea to use. I did this by creating a wide shot of the beach, half being the sea and sand and the other half being the sky, I then focused and zoomed in on the a bird in the sky as this connoted the characters feeling of lonely as the bird was alone.

In what ways does you media product USE develop or challenge forms and conventions for

real media product?

Additionally I used other camera angles such as close up shots, medium shots and over the shoulder shots, which I have seen in films such as The Hangover and Love Actually. I decided to use these shots as its shows the emotion of my film more clearly as the audience will feel the emotions my characters is feeling through the angles I have used. For example, I used an extreme close up shot of the top half of her face, as this clearly show the emotion in her eyes as they fill with tears, because I put this in slow motion as it creates the audience to focus on her eyes more. I have added a video in, to show the extremely close up that I used with in my film. When researching in to the media of films with

the genre ‘drama’ I found out that they are based around a big problem, so I then used this with my film as my films’ genre is drama. I believe that from the films I have researched, it was always more interesting and an engaging opening when it was based in a setting that suited what the film was about. For example in the film ‘twilight’ which I researched, its set in a small town in the south of the USA and starts in a forest which I think is engaging and interesting. This was why I decided to film mine on the beach on a cold day as this is an engaging setting which also reflects how my character will be feeling.

In what ways does you media product use,

develop or challenge forms and conventions for real media product?

Furthermore, I decided to develop the forms and conventions for a real media product by using a voice over at the start of my opening, I did this because I thought it would create my film to be more effective than using normal diegetic dialog with in the opening. When I watch film that have a voice over in them, I always find this worked well and engaged me more as a part of the audience. This is why when watching my film, I believe I connected more with my actress and how she was feeling because I used a voice over, this is why I kept this as a main part in my film as I think this is an effective technique to use. In the first two minutes of a film I researched, it shows the exposition of a character and instead of showing this using flashback or other technique, I decided to do this with the voice over and I believed this worked well as its extremely intimate. I need it to be in time because otherwise I don’t think it would have the emotion that it has. Also if it was not on time, I don’t think it would attract the audience as much as they would be focusing on one thing and not another, whereas because it’s in time, they can easily focus on everything. Although I did find this difficult when editing my film together, to cause my film and the voice over to relate and be in time with each other, if I could do this again, I would spend more time on getting it accurately on time.

In what ways does you media product use, develop

or challenge forms and conventions for real media product?

The films that I watched and research all had two or more main characters in them so when choosing how to challenge my film I tried to approach this differently for the ones that I watched. I wanted there to be just one central protagonist and for the whole film to be focused around just her. Furthermore the fact that solo female main are extremely infrequent in films. I thought this would be more effective for the genre because I have gone against the usual style model of the films and used a central sole protagonist. I believed this worked well as the audience could relate and get to know the single girl character more.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I think through the opening of my film, it represents at least two different types of social groups just from my main character. I show the typical blonde, pretty and innocent character throughout the first two minutes, I emphasise this social group more, with the costume of my actress, I created her to wear lots of clothing which was quite dull to cover up her body and also a hat to cover up her face so that she looks innocent, and because she needs a vulnerable need of protection.

I think this works well with the other social group I represent of somebody suffering with a terminal illness. I think the slow instrumental music in the background creates a more dramatic effect of her feelings. I think I could have represented the social group better by using certain props to create her to look more innocent and fragile, for example I could have used big objects around her, which looks like there suffocating her in which can relate to her illness and furthermore to her being innocent and fragile. I would think about this more if I had to reshoot the opening of my film.

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

I would use Universal Studio’s as the media institution to distribute my media product, this is because I believe that my film would be a mainstream film targeting at a mainstream audience, as I want to aim for the possible maximum audience, using multiplexes in both the USA, as this is a huge cinema industry with a lot of culture, as well as the UK. I would consider using Universal Studios' as they will create a wide spread distribution for my media product as this would ensure it would have premiers and lots of promotion on the weekend of its release. As well as this universal are a well known, reliable and trusted brand of both cinema release and DVD release, which would cause my media product to have longer terms with in the cinema, meaning it would have more screens and show for longer which would make more in the box office and on DVD sales. Lastly, I would consider using Universal Studio’s to distribute my media product as it would help to promote my film making and I believe it’s a potential choice for a target audience of 16 -35 year olds.

I also created my own sign which was like universal studios as I wanted my film to be produced by me and my company‘berry productions’

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Considering the genre for my film is based around a drama and an emotional storyline, I would say that the audience for my film would more likely to be females than males as they can reflect on the storyline and feel more attached to it. Additionally ‘couples’ is usually a frequent cinema going group. Furthermore because I didn’t think many males would be attracted to my storyline, I made the main star of the film an attractive blonde female as this might create them to want to watch the film to. The ages of my target market would probably be 16 – 35 as I would say my film is adult themed and has a more adult approach as its dealing with a terminal illness which people under the age of 15 wouldn’t properly understand and be able to relate to. Furthermore older teenager are who are becoming to exercise some consumer power in their choice of film would consider watching before I die. Considering that I want my film to be a mainstream British success, this would mean that my target audience would be seeing it as couples or nights out of the same gender such as going in a group of girls. I believe it would be targeted at a British nationality because it has a British location and actress staring throughout it. Furthermore it shows the British icons and language which will show the culture in Britain which I believe the British nation will want to watch. I think the people would want to watch my film for the enjoyment and escapism of the storyline and characters staring in it, as well I believe the audience will get emotionally attached to the story line and the audience might like this with films.

How did you attract/address you audience

When thinking about how to involve and attract my target audience, I firstly decided to use non- dietetic sound by putting a voice over, in the opening of my film which lasted two minutes. Using a voice over will involve the audience as they will listen to what the characters saying more clearly as though my actress is talking to them personally. I think this works well with my film because, the genre of my film is drama and the opening is very emotional. Using the voice over, it exaggerates the emotion in my actress making the audience share the same emotion as she does. As well as this, I used the camera shot, over the shoulder as this will cause the audience to feel as though they are with the actress as they can see what she is seeing and because of the voice over, they can also feel how she is feeling. I think this shot works well at start of my film because from the very start of the film we feel what she feels which starts to create sympathy for the character. Furthermore when my actress is showing her emotion of crying, I used close up shots and extreme close up shots of her eyes, I think this will cause the audience to pity her and the emotion as they can really see how she is feeling while she is talking about it. Additionally in the shot of her crying, I have use the editing technique to slow down this specific scene, as I think it captures the moment of sadness which the audience will sense. Lastly, I believe I used pathetic fallacy with in the first two minutes of the opening scene, as the weather is very grey, cold and windy which relates to how she is feeling. This will cause the audience to feel a dull and serious emotion as soon as they see the first clip of the beach and sea. Overall I believe that the composition of my film attracts the audience as it shows the connotation of isolation and vulnerability. The video’s below show the two shots, I used to attract the audience.

Close up shot Over the shoulder shot

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

product?

I have learnt to use lots of different technologies from carrying out this project and the process of constructing this product. The main thing I learnt to use was the filming and editing of the movie and how aware you have to be of the process. I learnt how to use the camera correctly and professionally which I found easy when filming both my preliminary task and my main task. I had continuity issues with this, so if I reshot my film, I would concentrate more on the planning of my film and making sure I had shot every little bit that I needed.

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

product?

I realised after filming my preliminary that you have to be completely aware that everything is the same throughout filming. I had a problem when editing my preliminary task, as when I shot the match on action shot, after she walked through the door, my actress closes it, when later on in the scene it’s open, so this was a problem I came across because it didn’t look professional and I believe the audience would notice this large mistake I had made, but I made sure I didn’t do when shooting my main task. Furthermore I learnt how to edit my film on the program iMovie, which I also found easy and a much organised way to put my film together to look as professional as possible. The only problem I had with iMovie was when I had to place my voice over in the exact place on my movie images, because it took me a while to make it fit. If I didn’t fit in place then it wouldn’t have look professional, that’s why it was essential I got this right.

When I edited in the music to go in the background I found the voice over worked extremely well. One of the things I enjoyed the most was creating the music for my film on the program garage band because I’m not a musical person, I found this hard but I think my overall instrumental song went well and influenced the emotional felling throughout the opening of my film. I chose instrumental as I thought this would work well with a voice over, because it wouldn’t drown out my voice when talking. Furthermore, it created a lot of sympathy towards the character. Overall I believe I learnt about many different techniques, which show that engaged with the contemporary media technologies as well as showing my development though out the preliminary task to the main task with experimenting with different ideas.

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

When looking back at my preliminary task, before planning and filming my main task I noticed that I made mistakes and I could have planned out my film more, so this is what I decided to make right when filming my main task. I learnt that you need to have full focus and everything has to be exactly the same when filming, as I made the mistake in my preliminary task, of closing the door but later on its open and my audience would notice this and not think it was professional. Furthermore the lighting has to be completely natural unless using professional lighting, as I believe when comparing my main task with complete natural lighting to my preliminary task which was shot indoors, the lighting looks more professional and clear on my main task. Additionally I believe the costume adds a lot of information to the audience in a film, for example I did not plan the costumes in my preliminary task where as I did in my main task and I believe this looks more effective and professional because this adds to the character because I am giving signs to the audience about the character and about her illness. I learnt that from practicing filming with the camera, that using a tripod looks completely different to using hand held, this is why I used a tripod when filming my main task because it gives a better and proficient look to my film. Overall I believe the editing, camera shots and my planning was developed a lot from my preliminary task.