Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
At the beginning of AS level media studies I undertook research into the film genre of social realism. I was then able to construct a feature film introduction of my own using certain codes and conventions from the genre. During the planning stage I deconstructed professional social realism film introductions from professional social realism film texts such as This is England and Half Nelson, learning from the directors’ choice of camera angles, sound, editorial elements and mise-en-scène, and how he/she uses these micro elements to create meaning around the macro themes issues and representations. This inspired the ideas that developed into my AS level main task. I decided that I would create my A2 main task in the same genre of social realism so that I would be able to use the knowledge already gained. I decided to analyse the genre in greater depth since becoming an A2 media student and focus on short film texts. The growing awareness and understanding of media specific terminology I have learnt over the past year has helped me hone my analytical skills .
Towards the start of the A2 course I began working on a short film idea about the dilemma a school teacher faces when her class becomes restless. After weeks of planning consisting of weekly workshops with actors to get as close to a realistic performance as possible and to fill in the blank spaces of the script, after shooting the film I was not pleased by the outcome. working with such a large ensemble class proved to difficult to get the performance i need. Upon re-evaluation I decided it would be wise to start the main task over with a new story idea. Keeping this in mind I branched out looking at different themes and issues until coming to a decision that I would focus on Youth as a theme.
Analysing British and international short films inspired my idea for the second attempt at the main task. After a long period of writing and development my idea began to take its shape as a socially realistic short film which focuses on the exploration of a child when left alone. Using such DVDs as best v best (Shooting People), Moving Shorts (BFI) and dedicated film sites such as Film Network (BBC). I chose mainly films which explored the theme of youth to gain knowledge of the director’s use of technical elements and how they link to representation and the macro issues. These films include The Most Beautiful Man in the World, Two Cars One Night, Gasman and Lamb. Although the narratives of the films differs, the subsidiary themes and issues often coincide.
Looking at two short films that I have reviewed in the planning stages of the main task I noticed that although a lot of the time the narratives are shown to be completely different from each other, the similarities between the underlying subsidiary themes become clear. For example in the short film ‘Cubs’ the theme of growing up and independence is also shared in the film ‘Antonio’s Breakfast’, in cubs the character that we follow throughout the film is represented as looking up to the wrong group of people however in Antonio’s breakfast the main characters group of friends are immediately stereotyped to be bad people. The director challenged this by using the characters actions and dialogue, thus showing them in a better light than society makes out. I watched each of these films relating the technical elements and themes to all of the areas of representation; gender, age, sexuality, regional identity, class and status, and disability.
By doing this I was able to analyse the message the director sends out to the films audience. For example, one of the films I reviewed ‘Smafuglar’ one of the children get raped, the director adds to the affect of how unaware the child is to what is going with the use of technical elements such as the editorial pace completely stops. There is also a POV shot from outside of the room giving the audience a feeling of helplessness, raising the issue of child abuse.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Within my media products main task I produced research of previously distributed media products to obtain an understanding of how directors portray social groups in professional and successful short films. To recreate this I separated a list of short films that I had previously analysed and reviewed into their main themes. My film was based on the theme of youth; by matching up other short films with this theme such as ‘The most beautiful man in the world’ and ‘smarfuglar’ I was able to pick up on the representation of social groups with the use of technical elements, codes and conventions. This led me to use similar conventions in my main task such as choice of camera shots and editorial pace. The main social group represented in my film is young children. I chose to base my film on the story of a child because they are often highly underestimated and usually placed in films for the ‘cute’ factor. I decided that to challenge this I could create a film that would go into great depth of being inside an infants mind which is filled with curiosity and adventure that we seem to loose with age, thus opening up a wide variety of ideas for me to venture into.
My media product uses the technical element of sound to represent this social group as much as possible. Upon studying the subjects used in professional media, sound seems to be very important if you wish for the audience to get to know the main character. In the main task I decided that less sound and no dialogue in the film would expand the bond between audience and main character because rather than being told what is going on, the audience is allowed to enter into the infants emotions and re-live the experience of being young and adventurous again. People also say that music is a multi-cultural language that anyone can understand. The use of diagetic music in my film is kept to a minimum so the focus is on the child with no distractions although the scene of the child in the front seat of the car playing with the radio shows that even children can enjoy music as a form of communication.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In AS level media studies I researched institutions that distributed professional media products in a similar category to my own film. Companies like BBC worked with institutions in several different countries to distribute feature films such as ‘Half Nelson’ and ‘Last Resort’. The distribution companies based abroad included
• Vertigo films (Spain)
• Shooting Gallery (USA)
In the short films that I analysed over my A2 media studies course most of the media products where independently distributed. To get my product distributed i would use web 2.0 sites such as Youtube and Vimeo to get my short film noticed by a wider audience. By using this method i could gain feedback from web users so that i could improve in the future and perhaps improve the final outcome before making an attempt at getting my film professionally distributed. I would chose this course of action because the film was shot on a very low budget and more money would be spent on distributing my short than creating it.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
By having my main task alone I don’t think that product is at its full potential because i would have no opportunity to share my own thoughts and previous plans I had made about the film. I researched professional media texts in the form of film reviews by reading through review magazines such as Sight & Sound magazine and becoming acquainted with the writing style of film critics so that the conventions would be reflected in my own ancillary task. I used Photoshop when creating the first ancillary task so that I could make an exact replica of a sight and sound magazine page, picking up at every detail of the page from fonts to colours. I feel that the professionalism of the page reflects positively and effectively upon my media film. The review gave me the chance to break down any micro to macro ideas I had planned in pre production and let the reader of the task become informed of why certain techniques where used.
The second ancillary task that I selected to do was the film poster. The reason I picked this over the radio broadcast was because I have much experience over photo editing and manipulation and it would be an advantage to bring these skills into play and allowing it to accompany my review and short film. To start with I created 4 posters consisting of screen shots from my film with one title and no other additions. Later on in the process of creating this ancillary task I researched into depth short film posters by looking at poster pages in the sight and sound magazines. This allowed me to take notes of conventions that reoccurred in multiple posters so that I would have a clear idea of what should be present in my poster. I added aspects I had missed before such as a star rating, actor’s names, awards and nominees and also an age rating. To make my poster affective I invited a guest from the professional media industry to watch my short film and give me several quotes of his personal thoughts that I would be able to add to my poster. Adding these conventions to my ancillary tasks compliments my short film main task by giving it a professional finish.
What have you learnt from your audience feed back?
For my A2 media studies course carried out two different forms of audience research. The first form is continuing off of my research in the AS course by using forms of questionnaires as a quick and effective way of gaining the information that I wish to obtain. This was in 2 parts, the first part of my audience research consisted of a small group of 5 people filling out similar questions to the previous year of work, allowing me to know which questions I should be asking when I proceed to obtaining a focus group. For my focus group I gathered a larger sample of people and handed each of them a copy of my synopsis first draft, they where asked to read this and compare with a fellow colleagues synopsis first draft also. By doing this both me and my classmate where able to pick out the advantages and disadvantages of each others future products and become able to fix the problems before leading on to further pre production work.
Click here for audience research sources
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning evaluation stages?
Unlike my previous media course I decided that one of my weaknesses in the AS course was the lack of media technologies in my work. Throughout the creation of my media product I kept this in mind and used a wide variety of technologies in my work.
In the early research stages I gathered my ideas for a film idea from viewing short films on DVDs such as ‘shooting people’ and ‘Best vs Best’ which led for me to select a main theme for my media text and base a story idea on top of the newly gained knowledge. I wrote my synopsis using Microsoft word and began to create my first questionnaire. To inform people of my need for a small group of participants I used social networking website Facebook, this allowed me to advertise also to my target audience as the average age of facebook users are aged 14-23.
At the beginning of the planning stage to my media production I downloaded a software provided by the BBC writers room known as script smart. This software offered me a template to use for my script that is highly recognisable in the profession of script writing. I was pleased to have access to this advantage as it would help to make my media film become professional and be easily understood in the world of media and production.
The construction of my media film showed many improvements from my AS media course to create a better outcome. The first thing that I noted when I constructed my main task was what format to shoot my film in. The previous year I used a Sony DV handy cam (DV Tutorial that I created) but to create a step up I invested in my own camera known as the canon Hv30which films in HD video. I selected this camera by using website such as google and viewing videos posted by users that allow you to watch camera preview videos.
I used these websites as an advantage on how to make my film look professional and not plain and boring. By searching google and youtube a group of students from my class and I came up with the plan that we would invest in some lighting for our films as this was a highly used trait in film making. We bought some mini flood lights from a local electrics store and adapted them to our needs by making them portable. We also used greaseproof paper as a cover so that the desired mood of the performance could be met with the softening of the light.
The majority of the construction stage that I undertook consists of gaining experience of people involved in professional media posting videos, tutorials and advice through out the internet. Another skill I picked up from the online community was the ability to colour correct my film, which allows me to change the mood of my film and bring the desired effect to my media product.
Constructing an internet blog for my media studies coursework to be displayed on was a huge advantage to me because I have already obtained knowledge on web design and internet html. Owning Photoshop gives me the opportunity to manipulate my web page and provides a personalised webpage consisting of my own logo and background designs.
Finally in the evaluation stages of my work I used many different media technologies creating a media interactive blog. My evaluation contains a presentation embedded from the prezi website. This is a new form of media that will make future presentations easier and is very simple to pick up. I also used a website called Slide share. This website enables the user to upload presentations that have been created on Microsoft PowerPoint to the internet and embed them into websites such as my media blog.
To finish my coursework task I sent out an email to a group of people using social networking website facebook containing the link to my media film and a list of questions to be answered for a first viewing of my film.
Here is a link to my Facebook feedback
Here are some tutorials i created
How to colour correct, capture, audio Edit, create transitions
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
At the beginning of AS level media studies I undertook research into the film genre of social realism. I was then able to construct a feature film introduction of my own using certain codes and conventions from the genre. During the planning stage I deconstructed professional social realism film introductions from professional social realism film texts such as This is England and Half Nelson, learning from the directors’ choice of camera angles, sound, editorial elements and mise-en-scène, and how he/she uses these micro elements to create meaning around the macro themes issues and representations. This inspired the ideas that developed into my AS level main task. I decided that I would create my A2 main task in the same genre of social realism so that I would be able to use the knowledge already gained. I decided to analyse the genre in greater depth since becoming an A2 media student and focus on short film texts. The growing awareness and understanding of media specific terminology I have learnt over the past year has helped me hone my analytical skills .
Towards the start of the A2 course I began working on a short film idea about the dilemma a school teacher faces when her class becomes restless. After weeks of planning consisting of weekly workshops with actors to get as close to a realistic performance as possible and to fill in the blank spaces of the script, after shooting the film I was not pleased by the outcome. working with such a large ensemble class proved to difficult to get the performance i need. Upon re-evaluation I decided it would be wise to start the main task over with a new story idea. Keeping this in mind I branched out looking at different themes and issues until coming to a decision that I would focus on Youth as a theme.
Analysing British and international short films inspired my idea for the second attempt at the main task. After a long period of writing and development my idea began to take its shape as a socially realistic short film which focuses on the exploration of a child when left alone. Using such DVDs as best v best (Shooting People), Moving Shorts (BFI) and dedicated film sites such as Film Network (BBC). I chose mainly films which explored the theme of youth to gain knowledge of the director’s use of technical elements and how they link to representation and the macro issues. These films include The Most Beautiful Man in the World, Two Cars One Night, Gasman and Lamb. Although the narratives of the films differs, the subsidiary themes and issues often coincide.
Looking at two short films that I have reviewed in the planning stages of the main task I noticed that although a lot of the time the narratives are shown to be completely different from each other, the similarities between the underlying subsidiary themes become clear. For example in the short film ‘Cubs’ the theme of growing up and independence is also shared in the film ‘Antonio’s Breakfast’, in cubs the character that we follow throughout the film is represented as looking up to the wrong group of people however in Antonio’s breakfast the main characters group of friends are immediately stereotyped to be bad people. The director challenged this by using the characters actions and dialogue, thus showing them in a better light than society makes out. I watched each of these films relating the technical elements and themes to all of the areas of representation; gender, age, sexuality, regional identity, class and status, and disability.
By doing this I was able to analyse the message the director sends out to the films audience. For example, one of the films I reviewed ‘Smafuglar’ one of the children get raped, the director adds to the affect of how unaware the child is to what is going with the use of technical elements such as the editorial pace completely stops. There is also a POV shot from outside of the room giving the audience a feeling of helplessness, raising the issue of child abuse.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Within my media products main task I produced research of previously distributed media products to obtain an understanding of how directors portray social groups in professional and successful short films. To recreate this I separated a list of short films that I had previously analysed and reviewed into their main themes. My film was based on the theme of youth; by matching up other short films with this theme such as ‘The most beautiful man in the world’ and ‘smarfuglar’ I was able to pick up on the representation of social groups with the use of technical elements, codes and conventions. This led me to use similar conventions in my main task such as choice of camera shots and editorial pace. The main social group represented in my film is young children. I chose to base my film on the story of a child because they are often highly underestimated and usually placed in films for the ‘cute’ factor. I decided that to challenge this I could create a film that would go into great depth of being inside an infants mind which is filled with curiosity and adventure that we seem to loose with age, thus opening up a wide variety of ideas for me to venture into.
My media product uses the technical element of sound to represent this social group as much as possible. Upon studying the subjects used in professional media, sound seems to be very important if you wish for the audience to get to know the main character. In the main task I decided that less sound and no dialogue in the film would expand the bond between audience and main character because rather than being told what is going on, the audience is allowed to enter into the infants emotions and re-live the experience of being young and adventurous again. People also say that music is a multi-cultural language that anyone can understand. The use of diagetic music in my film is kept to a minimum so the focus is on the child with no distractions although the scene of the child in the front seat of the car playing with the radio shows that even children can enjoy music as a form of communication.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In AS level media studies I researched institutions that distributed professional media products in a similar category to my own film. Companies like BBC worked with institutions in several different countries to distribute feature films such as ‘Half Nelson’ and ‘Last Resort’. The distribution companies based abroad included
• Vertigo films (Spain)
• Shooting Gallery (USA)
In the short films that I analysed over my A2 media studies course most of the media products where independently distributed. To get my product distributed i would use web 2.0 sites such as Youtube and Vimeo to get my short film noticed by a wider audience. By using this method i could gain feedback from web users so that i could improve in the future and perhaps improve the final outcome before making an attempt at getting my film professionally distributed. I would chose this course of action because the film was shot on a very low budget and more money would be spent on distributing my short than creating it.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
By having my main task alone I don’t think that product is at its full potential because i would have no opportunity to share my own thoughts and previous plans I had made about the film. I researched professional media texts in the form of film reviews by reading through review magazines such as Sight & Sound magazine and becoming acquainted with the writing style of film critics so that the conventions would be reflected in my own ancillary task. I used Photoshop when creating the first ancillary task so that I could make an exact replica of a sight and sound magazine page, picking up at every detail of the page from fonts to colours. I feel that the professionalism of the page reflects positively and effectively upon my media film. The review gave me the chance to break down any micro to macro ideas I had planned in pre production and let the reader of the task become informed of why certain techniques where used.
The second ancillary task that I selected to do was the film poster. The reason I picked this over the radio broadcast was because I have much experience over photo editing and manipulation and it would be an advantage to bring these skills into play and allowing it to accompany my review and short film. To start with I created 4 posters consisting of screen shots from my film with one title and no other additions. Later on in the process of creating this ancillary task I researched into depth short film posters by looking at poster pages in the sight and sound magazines. This allowed me to take notes of conventions that reoccurred in multiple posters so that I would have a clear idea of what should be present in my poster. I added aspects I had missed before such as a star rating, actor’s names, awards and nominees and also an age rating. To make my poster affective I invited a guest from the professional media industry to watch my short film and give me several quotes of his personal thoughts that I would be able to add to my poster. Adding these conventions to my ancillary tasks compliments my short film main task by giving it a professional finish.
What have you learnt from your audience feed back?
For my A2 media studies course carried out two different forms of audience research. The first form is continuing off of my research in the AS course by using forms of questionnaires as a quick and effective way of gaining the information that I wish to obtain. This was in 2 parts, the first part of my audience research consisted of a small group of 5 people filling out similar questions to the previous year of work, allowing me to know which questions I should be asking when I proceed to obtaining a focus group. For my focus group I gathered a larger sample of people and handed each of them a copy of my synopsis first draft, they where asked to read this and compare with a fellow colleagues synopsis first draft also. By doing this both me and my classmate where able to pick out the advantages and disadvantages of each others future products and become able to fix the problems before leading on to further pre production work.
Click here for audience research sources
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning evaluation stages?
Unlike my previous media course I decided that one of my weaknesses in the AS course was the lack of media technologies in my work. Throughout the creation of my media product I kept this in mind and used a wide variety of technologies in my work.
In the early research stages I gathered my ideas for a film idea from viewing short films on DVDs such as ‘shooting people’ and ‘Best vs Best’ which led for me to select a main theme for my media text and base a story idea on top of the newly gained knowledge. I wrote my synopsis using Microsoft word and began to create my first questionnaire. To inform people of my need for a small group of participants I used social networking website Facebook, this allowed me to advertise also to my target audience as the average age of facebook users are aged 14-23.
At the beginning of the planning stage to my media production I downloaded a software provided by the BBC writers room known as script smart. This software offered me a template to use for my script that is highly recognisable in the profession of script writing. I was pleased to have access to this advantage as it would help to make my media film become professional and be easily understood in the world of media and production.
The construction of my media film showed many improvements from my AS media course to create a better outcome. The first thing that I noted when I constructed my main task was what format to shoot my film in. The previous year I used a Sony DV handy cam (DV Tutorial that I created) but to create a step up I invested in my own camera known as the canon Hv30which films in HD video. I selected this camera by using website such as google and viewing videos posted by users that allow you to watch camera preview videos.
I used these websites as an advantage on how to make my film look professional and not plain and boring. By searching google and youtube a group of students from my class and I came up with the plan that we would invest in some lighting for our films as this was a highly used trait in film making. We bought some mini flood lights from a local electrics store and adapted them to our needs by making them portable. We also used greaseproof paper as a cover so that the desired mood of the performance could be met with the softening of the light.
The majority of the construction stage that I undertook consists of gaining experience of people involved in professional media posting videos, tutorials and advice through out the internet. Another skill I picked up from the online community was the ability to colour correct my film, which allows me to change the mood of my film and bring the desired effect to my media product.
Constructing an internet blog for my media studies coursework to be displayed on was a huge advantage to me because I have already obtained knowledge on web design and internet html. Owning Photoshop gives me the opportunity to manipulate my web page and provides a personalised webpage consisting of my own logo and background designs.
Finally in the evaluation stages of my work I used many different media technologies creating a media interactive blog. My evaluation contains a presentation embedded from the prezi website. This is a new form of media that will make future presentations easier and is very simple to pick up. I also used a website called Slide share. This website enables the user to upload presentations that have been created on Microsoft PowerPoint to the internet and embed them into websites such as my media blog.
To finish my coursework task I sent out an email to a group of people using social networking website facebook containing the link to my media film and a list of questions to be answered for a first viewing of my film.
Here is a link to my Facebook feedback
Here are some tutorials i created
How to colour correct, capture, audio Edit, create transitions
