2. For my coursework I research, planned and
developed a short film and two ancillary texts
alongside the short film; a film poster
promoting the film and also a film review that
would be suitable to be in the chosen film
magazine.
3. In what ways does my media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
In many ways my coursework uses, develops and challenges form and conventions of
many real media products. Within my short film I used existing texts with the research
and planning stage of the film. I firstly conducted a genre study looking at existing films
that use the drama genre and also those that use it and break the common convention
of a drama film. After this I looked at the film ‘the pursuit of happyness’. This film is of a
drama genre and has many conventions within it similar to that of my storyline, one key
scene within the film I went onto look further in depth was the scene where he realises
his son has been taken from him by his wife, this was an interesting scene as within my
short film the main character ‘Jess’ gets her son taken from her so I wanted to look at
how the scene was filmed and also how to show the emotion of my main character to
allow the audience engage with her, so I decided to go on a conduct a nine frame
analysis on this short scene. I looked at the conventions, camera angles, editing
techniques and the repertoire of elements. By completing this nine frame analysis I was
able to go on and develop this scene within my film in the best possible way and also
film my scene to a professional level allowing the audience to engage and relate to
‘Jess’ as this is a common convention of a drama genre film as I found out from my
genre study.
4. In what ways does my media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
I also used and developed current media products within my case studies for the
development of my short film. I looked at three films that I felt were similar to
mine or included scenes within that will help me greatly within the planning and
development of my film or included similar stereotype of character to that of
within my film however the storyline of the film had no link towards mine. I chose
to look at Cyberbully, fishtank and My sisters keeper. These films vary in how well
known they are and the scale that they were produced on however they all
helped me with the type of clothing to use and how to style my main character.
The case studies also allowed me establish what camera angles and shots I will
use to show the film within the best possible way as well as this my case studies
have helped me within postproduction within the editing part of my film and also
how to be creative and challenge the forms and conventions of a stereotypical
drama film.
5. In what ways does my media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
When conducting the genre study I looked at the repertoire of elements,
specifically the iconography, themes, narratives and also the audience
expectations. As well as this my case studies have helped me greatly
within post production, this mainly consists of editing, constructing the
raw material that I filmed into a form that the audience will receive and
understand, the case studies allowed me to gain information and
understanding into how the best possible way that I could process special
effect, soundtracks and graphics into my films that link directly to the
genre and the storyline. One thing that I noticed from a drama genre film
is that special effects are rarely used as they are often raw cut real films,
they are often based on real life situations and including special effects
just take away from the raw effect. So from this I decided to not include
many special effects and stick to the common conventions of a drama
genre however one problem from this that could occur is that my film
could have the potential to be boring and predictable and not innovative
and experimental.
6. How effective is the combination of my main product and ancillary texts?
I believe that my main product (short film) and ancillary texts (film poster and film
review) work very well together as a form of promotional package for my short film.
I feel that my film poster is very effective and my research and development allowed
this to happen, I have had peer feedback on my film poster and have had to make
little changes on of these being that the main character ‘Jess’ does not stand out as
much as she should in the poster, after this feedback I went on and changed the
poster in accordance and feel that my film poster is very strong and helps attract my
target market consumers to go on and watch my film as the poster is very unusual
and different to others that you often see. As well as this I feel that my film review
works along side both my short film and film poster as it is set to be featured within
‘Empire’ magazine which targets the same age group and type of person that I am
with my film and ancillary texts.
The film review acts as a form of free advertisement for my film. However in order to
attract consumers to watch my film It needs to be a good positive review as
consumers will see the positive review and this will entice then to go on an purchase
or view the film at the local cinema or online.
7. What have I learned from my audience feedback?
Throughout the process of my work I used audience feedback throughout. I did this
mainly using my target market and audience which is predominately female ages 16-30,
I gathered audience feedback at many points throughout my work and I used Facebook
messenger to do this. I sent up a group message which allowed my target audience to
comment on my short film and give my feedback.
This is the message that I set up involving ten females ages 16-30
9. What have I learned from my audience feedback?
The audience feedback that I have gained from my work has allowed me to go back and
edit my film to the best of my ability. I was able to shorten shots so that they blended
better and work together better overall. The audience feedback has allowed me to
develop my work alongside my target audience, this has allowed me to create three texts
that suit my target audience and I now know that they will be watched and loved by
them.
I decided to set up a message on Facebook with ten female ages 16-25 as this is my target
audience. I decided to use Facebook as most people of this age check Facebook on
average 14 times a day so I felt that they will feel included in the process of my film and
this is how word of mouth starts which will attract more people to watch my film and view
my ancillary texts. I feel that getting the target audience involved in the process will create
a buzz and promote my film for free. This is a form of free promotion that is often used
within industry to promote there product directly at there target market.
10. How did I use media technologies in the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages?
To create my website I used a programme called wix. This allowed me to create
multiple pages including all the development and research processes, It enabled
me to create pages that looked professional and include animation and create a
sense of the genre and theme of my film within the website with the colours and
images that I used.
When filming my film I used a DSLR canon 600D camera, this is a high resolution
and quality camera, it allowed me to focus the lens and blur it when needed. The
camera allowed me to be more versatile with my filming however one problem
that I came across when using this camera was that the micro phone is not the
best so the sound isn't great in certain scenes within my film.
When editing my film I used Serif movieplus, this is a professional editing software
that allowed me to create quirky and professional effects. I was able to blend the
transferring of scenes and along side this layer up the scenes to create a unique
effect allowing the viewer to see more. As well as this I was able to add a filter
onto the ‘looking back to the past’ scene. I added a black and white filter onto the
scene as it allowed my audience to understand that is a flashback of her thoughts
and make the audience sympathise with the main character Jess as this is a
common trait of drama films.
11. How did I use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
I also used slide share within my work, I used it to display my evaluation as it allowed other
people to discover the evaluation therefor leading onto viewing my website and this is all
free promotion again.
Another medium that I used was YouTube, I uploaded my film onto YouTube so that I was
able to link it onto my website so that people could see my film. I was also able to gain
audience feedback from the comment box on the film however due to the lack of people
having a YouTube account this was unable to happen and didn’t go to plan, this is when I
decided to set up a Facebook message and this worked very well as it was faster and
everyone involved was able to discuss the film within a conversation and I also knew that
the feedback was coming from my target audience unlike the YouTube comment box.
12. Conclusion
Overall I felt that my work went very well with little problems throughout the
process. From the start I was unsure how the film was going to go however my
research and development played a key role in ensuring that I created a quality
piece and also that I my target audience of females aged 16-25 years and I felt this
went great. Media technologies played a key part in helping me create a quality
piece of work and without these I would have not been able to complete my work.
As well as this audience feedback played a key role in ensuring that was targeting
my work at the correct people. Also other media allowed me gain research which
allowed me to develop my work to a professional level and without this is would
have not been able to do it.
