Question Seven

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

For this task I am going to pick certain shots from my preliminary task and compare them to shots from my final media product. I will look at the similarities and differences and also new things I have learnt.




Here is the first shot of my preliminary task which is quite confusing now I look back and doesn't really give the audience much indication as to where the film is going. It also doesn't have a production company which is something that makes the opening look a lot more professional and realistic.







This is the first bit of my final media product and it is the production company, Film 4. This helps to make the film look more professional and also introduces the film at a slower pace which allows the audience to think about what's happening more. 

This is the first title in my preliminary task. I had little knowledge on titles at this point. I only used one production and distribution company which I've learnt is something that is unlikely to happen with an independent film or any film in general.



This is the first title in my final product which is 'Film 4 Presents' on top of the first scene in the opening. This makes it look more professional and fits with our genre as the titles are not supposed to be so in your face. The font and timing is also more realistic in my final product than in my preliminary where there is hardly enough time to read what it actually says.

 This is the title of the film in the prelim which is on a dark background and not very effective. I have learned a lot when it comes to titles since this and this is supposed to be the most important one. It is also on for a short amount of time.







This is the main title of our film and we put it in the correct place this time, half way through all our titles. I have learnt where titles should go and this makes sense as it is the first shot where Zac and Zabel are together. We also played around with the colours to try and blend it into the bench, again making it not too in your face.

This is the last shot of my prelim task which is effective and conforms to the genre however this is more like the ending to a film rather than a slow introduction into a film. It doesn't really leave the audience asking any questions.

This is the last shot of our final product and this is a lot more effective than the prelim as it is not such a sudden ending.
I've learnt the importance of a tripod and keeping the camera steady.

Main things I have learned:

- Editing: I have massively improved my knowledge and ability to include effective and correct titles. This was learnt through watching similar films and doing much research into titles, something I didn't do for my prelim task. I have learnt the importance of research. I have also learnt how to mask which is such a good and professional-looking effect if you can get it right. Furthermore, I have broadened my knowledge on other effects and transitions. 

- Camera Work: Before and even during the preliminary task, I was quite anxious about using a camera as I didn't really know how to use it properly. I didn't know what shots to include. However for the final product, we made a shot list before filming which was really beneficial. As we were filming and started to include some of these more professional shots such as the 180 degree rule when Zac and Zabel were talking. In my prelim I tried to use the match on action but it wasn't very smooth. In our final product we learned the importance of including a variety of different shots to keep the film interesting and engaging for the audience. 

One of the main things I have improved on is my ability to plan and knowing the necessity of planning in advance before filming or doing anything. This is more efficient and saves any mistakes from being made.

Question Six

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

This is a Prezi made to demonstrate the types of technologies used in the making of our media .







 

Question Five

How did you attract your audience?

I have made annotations on our final version of our film which explain how we have tried to attract the audience:





I also made a video of people giving their opinions on our film and overall it shows how we were successful.

Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is an E-Maze showing the audience for our media product. We have decided to go for an 'indie' 18 year old as our idea target audience as the music and storyline would appeal to them. In this presentation we explore the lifestyle of our target audience.

Question Three

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

This is a video explaining the types of institutions who may or would not produce/distribute our film.

Question Two

In our media product we focused on various representations such as gender and age when it came to Zac. In this question, I have compared him to other characters similar to him but also explained how Zac does or does not follow or go against the typical representation.

GENDER: 

I have made a character profile of Zac to explain the typical representation of gender:

This profile compares him to another, similar character - Simon James, and also explains why he goes against the typical representation of his gender.


AGE:

Typical representation of a boy of Zac's age: 

Some would be portrayed as going out to parties and being around their friends a lot. They could be seen as immature and to not be serious about much.

Zac goes against this representation of age as he doesn't appear to have many, if any, friends and is shown to live a very isolated lifestyle. 

Another representation of age is the 'geeky' type of boy. Not many boys pictured above would also be pictured studying in most media products. This shows a big contrast in two different representations of the same age group.

Zac supports this representation and goes against it at the same time as he looks like he is interested in academics as he is reading a book about psychology in the beginning of our film. He goes against it however as it is not clear that this is actually what he is doing, he is not shown to be at university.


An example of a representation in a real media product: 

This is a character, Lucas, from the television series Pretty Little Liars. Although this is not a film, it represents age in a similar way to our media product.

Lucas is portrayed as being geeky and shy, into school and extra-curricular activities such as the Yearbook club. He is shy and not good at confessing how he really feels.

This is similar to Zac as he is extremely shy and timid and will not readily talk to anyone else. This could show how he fits the 'geeky' representation of a young adult.  

This is Caleb, another character from Pretty Little Liars. In the series, Lucas sees Caleb as an enemy due to them liking the same girl.

Caleb is manly, handsome and often gets himself into trouble. This is similar to the very first representation of age I described.

This is similar to Zac and Zabel as Zac sees Zabel as a threat to his freedom. This fits the representation of age that the more popular, mischievous boys are superior and more powerful than the geekier, more intelligent and shy characters. 

Question One

1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of real-life media products? 

This is a Prezi with our nine shots and explanation of how they develop, challenge or conform to our genre.



CONVENTIONS:

 I did some research into the different conventions of indie films but also watched similar films to our own and looked at the types of things they included. I then compared my research with what I found with watching films and picked out the six main conventions that featured in both.

NARRATIVE:

This is an explanation of Torodov's Narrative Theory and in-depth explanation of our 'equilibrium'. There is also a picture from 'The Double' which is a film we used for inspiration. 

This is a comparison of Torodov's Narrative Theory using The Double and our media product, Parallel. As we couldn't fill in all the sections for the Theory, we included some ideas of the direction the film could take if we made the whole thing. 

This is another example of applying Narrative Theories to our media product with Barthes and Levi-Strauss. 

CHARACTERS:

Zac: He is supposed to be a young adult suffering from a mental illness. However, from his suit and calm attitude at the beginning, the audience probably wouldn't expect this, I think this conforms to the genre as in Indie films, the protagonist is not usually predictable. This shows in Shallow Grave as it is hard to work out how the characters are going to act.

Zabel: I would say that Zabel is quite stereotypical character as alter-ego's are rarely portrayed as helpful or even angelic like. This challenges the genre as I said before, the characters are not supposed to be stereotypical.

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This is our example of our characters in Propp's Theory. As the story was not developed fully, we were unable to add many of the characters. However. this also conforms to the genre as independent films are supposed to have a small cast.

Final Draft