media

1. By Shawnean Milton
EVALUATION

2. In our media product we stuck to the genre of
spy espionage and kept the same idea of having a
spy and a villain. We also kept the same concept
of the spy being and English and, the villain
being of a different race e.g. Asian or of exotic
nationality.
We thought it best to keep the characters as
stereotypically accurate as possible, so they are
easily identifiable to the audience. When thinking
of ‘spy’ most people straight away think of
characters such as James Bond (or Austin Powers-
if you’re more into comedy) Both of which are
English men/males, who woo beautiful women.
When creating the character of the villain, people
straight away think of ‘terrorists’ or someone
with an exotic background.
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

3. When choosing our villain, we had to choose
which type of nationality of person we were
going for.
It had to be easily identifiable to the audience
and suit the role of a villain.
We looked at different types of villains, mainly
ones that are associated with using bombs. I
researched different movies, looking at the
villains, I found characters like ‘Bomb voyage’
from the movie ‘The Incredibles’ and one of
the assassins in ‘Team America’.
We thought the assassin best suited the
character of the villain due to its background
nationality. This choice of character is what
most people think of when they think of
‘Terrorists’ so our decision was based on what
we thought the audience could easily identify.
We asked Benoit to be our villain, he accepted
and got into his role by wearing black and a
balaclava to cover most of his face.

4. When choosing the spy/good
guy, the decision was pretty
straight forward.
We knew that a spy, is usually
associated with James Bond and
all/most James bond characters
were English, male, gentlemen.
The only thing we had to
consider was whether he’d be
slick and calm, like James Bond
or adventurous and gets his
hands dirty, like Aaron cross in
‘The Bourne legacy’

5. Our media product represents the genre of spy espionage
well because we stuck to the stereotypes that most
people/audiences think of/ relate to, when watching a spy
movie.
We kept the spy as a white male who wears dark clothing
and the villain as a person with a different nationality
(Stereotypically Asian) who also wears dark clothing. We
included a balaclava as villains don’t always tend to reveal
their identity and it makes them seem more of a threat
because they’re hiding something.
The dark clothing works well as we thought it created a
sense of mystery o both the spy and he villain.
Black could also connote darkness, creating a sense of evil
for the villain.
It could also connote power, as black is quite sleek and
professional, so the spy becomes more in control and
shows he knows what he’s doing. (Another idea would
have been to have the spy in a suit, as a man in a suit,
shows he knows what he is doing, that h is in control of
whatever life throws at him. So when using costume we
used clothing as professional and as close to a suit
(without actually wearing a suit) as possible.
HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT
PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

6. Eon Productions- a British film production
company known for producing the James Bond film
series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly
and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the
United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of Danjaq LLC,
the holding company responsible for the copyright
and trademarks to the Bond characters and elements
on screen.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment- the home
video distribution arm of the 20th Century Fox film
studio. It was established in 1976 as Magnetic Video
Corporation, and was also known as 20th Century
Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video and Fox Video, Inc. The
company also is best known for distributing the two
highest-grossing films of all time, Titanic and Avatar.
WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT
DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

7. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment- the home
video distribution arm of Sony Pictures
Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation.
Those are 3 company’s in which produced movies such
as, and including, 007 (James Bond) so I would say
these are the ideal production company’s in which I
think, would produce our type of movie.
The main company I think would focus on the genre
of our movie would be Eon productions as they are
the production company who produced the James
Bond series, so they have experience in the spy
espionage genre.

8. For my media product the target audience would
mainly be aimed at teens and young adults.
We came to this conclusion mainly on the fact that in
spy movies the violence/action and storylines tend to
appeal mainly to a younger/middle generation. The
idea of being a spy tends to appeal mainly to the male
gender and they maybe almost idolise them, whether it
be the fighting/weapon skills, the fast cars or the
beautiful women. The women tend to focus on
whether the spy/main character is desirable, so casting
directors usually have the task of picking a suitable
male to play the role, therefor also making the movie
appealing to women.
Because the target audience is quite a wide range
(estimated 15-27 years old) the movie should get
plenty of viewers, so the more successful the movie,
the bigger the audience, this is why I think targeting a
younger audience makes a movie more successful as
they can get more views.
WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT?

9. To attract our audience, we made sure that it was suitable
for the age range and stuck to the genre.
We used an interesting soundtrack that was appealing to
the audience and suited the Media product.
The setting and costume was set in modern day so it
seems more realistic to the audience, rather than using
futuristic settings. Yes futuristic settings can make a movie
more appealing: flying cars, lazer guns, highly developed
technology, but unfortunately we couldn’t get our hands
on any hologram computers or hovering cars.
We addressed out audience by using young characters to
play the roles of a spy and a bad guy.
Our product was fast paced so I was exciting for the
audience to watch.
We also asked people what they like to see in movies and
what they thought of our piece and developed it, to fit the
audiences needs.
A survey was made to help us in our development, in a
more, ordered and quick way for everyone.
HOW DID YOU ATTRACT / ADDRESS YOUR
AUDIENCE?

10. The constructing of the project helped me develop and learn
new skills, one of these skills involves blogging.
I learned how to upload images and type around them and also
include videos and links.
Although I did not do the editing, or know how, I did observe
as Alex and Jordan did so. I watched as they cropped, joined,
placed/rearranged and synced each clip and choosing music
for the background (removing the original sound from he clips
that were recorded)by getting music from youtube or
downloading a track (from a phone or a website, onto a
computer) and putting it all together to make a successful
sequence.
I learnt about different filming angles and shots, figuring out
which ones worked best for our product and ones that don’t
work so well, so we know to improve them, or not include
them at all.
I leant that ‘tracking shot’ was the hardest shot to master and
that if you don’t have an extremely steady hand, swift
movement and proper equipment, then there’s no point in
attempting to film or include the shot in your product.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE
PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

11. Jordan and Alex began to edit the audio with the footage, they found it easy
because they felt that, creatively they are very similar and both of them have
the same/similar ideas and they can work together to develop each others
ideas. They both have experience using premiere pro, so this made the task
easier. However sometimes they did get stuck on how to do certain things, so
they had to ask for help, or do their own research to find how to do these
tasks.

12. Looking at everything from the start I feel as if I have learnt quite a bit.
First off, I know that communication plays a big part in working in a group. Without
communication, there is no real team work, some ideas don’t get heard or involved, ideas in
which could impact the group and the project.
Although our communication skills were not as compatible as it should be, we all managed to
include our ideas, thoughts and plans. Though I recon if we communicated a bit more and
actually listened to one another, we may have all have been fully satisfied with the total outcome
of the product.
So I think that, as a group, communication was our biggest downfall, and it let us down in the
long run.
LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU-HAVE
LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

13. For filming we had to re-shoot
certain shots for our short film due
to small errors, such as Alex's hand
being different in one shot when it
is suppose to be in the same
position as the previous shot. In
these scenes Alex was running too
slow, so we had to reshoot them so
he ran faster, not only that he had
to jump higher. This looked much
better once we had re-shot it all.
However the camera ran out of
battery as we were doing the last
scene, so we had to wait till the
next day to continue filming. So we
learnt that each detail is vital,
especially a placement of a hand.
Also, making sure the equipment is
properly prepared (for example,
make sure the camera is charged)
before you go off to do what you
need to do, this is so you can
actually get work done, instead of
being delayed due to a faulty tripod
or a dead camera.

14. The next day we finished
filming the last few scenes
where Benoit is giving Alex
the bag that contains the
bomb (due to last time Alex's
hands positioned differently
to the previous shot). On this
day we struggled a bit due to
the lighting in the training
room appearing too dark, so
we had to film in a different
part of the room in order for
the lighting to be effective. So
we learnt that good lighting is
a necessity when filming.

15. From the start we
had an idea to do
our filming in
London, but we
faced facts that
not all of us
could make it and
it would be
difficult with few
people to carry
around the
equipment
(Camera, tripod)
and to keep it
safe, and because
of that, no work
was being done.
We decided to
relocate to a
destination where
we were all
available and can
get to easily: the
school. Because
of this we learnt
that choosing a
more ideal
location, can get
work done
quicker and it
makes it easier for
everyone.
This is the location/building for where we will
shoot our final video. It is inside our school so is
convenient for us to shoot in and also we will all
be available to shoot together when we can. We
will also be able to keep the continuity for each
time we shoot because there wont be many
people in the shot.
This is a view of the inside of the building, on the
ground level of where we are going to shoot. This
also persuaded us to shoot in this location because it
is a very big building with lots of space to try and get
different shots and give us the best opportunity to get
a good mark.
This is an example shot of what our film
what look like on the upper levels of the
building. Again there is a lot of space to
film and we also felt like it would make for
some really cool shots that we could
incorporate into our two minute opening.

16. Our
music
ideas had
changed from
the start. At the
beginning we
had a small
choice of
options to
choose from.
Carrying on we
changed our
ideas and chose
the same genre
of music but
none of which
from the list we
made at the
start
This is the final song that we then
decided to use in our title sequence.
We decided to use this song over the
others previously mentioned because
it has that espionage secret spy feel to
it that the others just simply do not
have. It also contains an edginess to
the song which also relates to how
the film will play out and what is
shown in the opening two minutes
that we have made.

17. Finally, we decided to change the music for the running sequence
because we felt that it just did not fit the theme of espionage and
also did not fit with how the sequence played out. It was originally
the instrumental for ghetto Kyoto which Jordan decided to
choose but then we all agreed that this was not going to work.
Alex then spent my time looking at what would fit with what we
wanted and then he stumbled across the Kendrick Lamar song
Backseat Freestyle (instrumental). This was the perfect sound to use for our video because it had that effect of attracting
the audience to watch the film while also having a suspenseful and thrilling side to it.
After Alex found this we put it into our video and he cut it down so that it fit just with the running sequence and
nothing else within the video. We made sure that the opening of the track was repeated until the title popped up and
then after this it would cut to the main instrumental with a heavy drum beat to it. After this we realised that we needed
to
have a background track to the dialogue scene. This is because
it would add to the atmosphere of the dialogue and gives an indication
that this is a very tense moment for the protagonist. It also establishes
that this is a very shady place and the person that the protagonist is talking
to is very mysterious. The track that I used was Crush by El Huervo. Along
with these soundtracks the Muse music will also be added to the title sequence
at the end. Overall this music is vital to the project as it really adds to the detail
and atmosphere of the opening sequence. We all were happy with the choice of
music and thought it suited the genre of spy espionage